


Tony's Pain

by Connorperry42



Category: NCIS
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Light Infantilism, Other, Pacifiers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2008842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Connorperry42/pseuds/Connorperry42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs learns that Tony's been hiding injuries and takes matters into his own hands.<br/>There is some infantilism in this story, nothing much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know that the weight is crazy. It's my little world and the medical facts don't always fit with this one but that's alright. It is somewhat AU and also the characters aren't always exact but I do my best.

Chapter 1

Gibbs couldn’t believe he had missed it. Sure Tony was a good actor and yes he was great at fooling people but not Gibbs, or so Gibbs had thought. Apparently Tony had been hiding a sprained wrist and a concussion from him for four days as well as a broken wrist (same one he sprained mind), concussion and a fractured leg for about six hours. Gibbs thought that he could see past Tony’s acting, and for the most part he could, but apparently DiNozzo was better than he thought when it came to hiding pain, if his leg hadn’t given out when Abby had tackled him in a hug Gibbs wouldn’t have known that Tony had been injured at all. Of course as soon as Gibbs found out about the leg he hauled Tony up and dragged him down to autopsy to see Ducky. This is where they currently were with Tony, still standing, trying to convince Ducky not to give him a lookover.   
“Really Ducky it’s no big deal, I just tripped and Gibbs over-reacted” Tony said trying to worm his way out while taking a half-step closer to the door, if he got close enough before either man noticed maybe he could slip out without being examined.  
“Now really my boy I must insist…” ducky started, it was obvious the lad was in pain by the way he was standing, but Gibbs cut him off.  
“DiNozzo this is not a do you want to now take your pants off, get up on the table and let Ducky check your leg!” Gibbs said but when Tony, instead of moving forward towards the table, took another step back Gibbs went over and grabbed his left arm, right above the wrist, causing Tony to gasp in pain.   
Before he could recover Tony found himself being picked up, placed on Gibbs’ hip and carried to the autopsy table while Gibbs was removing his shoes at the same time “Hey!” Tony cried indignantly “put me down, I’m not a child, put me down!”  
“Fine” Gibbs said as he put Tony down on the table and yanked his shirt off over his head.  
“Argh…” Tony said, he was having a hard time talking as his shirt was being forcibly taken off. Tony only had a moment to think about Gibbs’ reaction to the bruises on his torso before he found himself laying flat on the table with Gibbs taking his pants off so that Ducky now had full access to his leg and wrist.  
“Oh my” Ducky was a little shocked “and how and when did all this happen” he queried.  
“What do you mean when Duck?” Gibbs asked, he had thought that all of Tony’s injuries came from his fight with the perp. when they took him down. Tony had insisted that he was ‘fine’ afterwards but clearly that hadn’t been the truth.  
“Well, some of these are a few hours old but some are a few days old.” Ducky explained.  
Gibbs turned a sharp glare on Tony “start talking DiNozzo” he growled.  
Tony gulped “Well as you know I got into it a bit with the perp earlier” Gibbs’ glare didn’t let up so Tony figured he would have to give a bit more “and then I also had a slight altercation with the, uh, suspect we were chasing down on Tuesday” he hoped that would be enough to please Gibbs just kept staring, waiting for more, but Tony was at a loss as to what to tell him.  
“What injuries did you get when you were chasing the suspect?” Gibbs questioned.  
Tony licked his lips there, thinking about what he should admit to, he figured Gibbs already knew about the wrist and the concussion was already gone and hoped that he could throw in the bruises without Gibbs noticing it was a lie “he sprained my wrist when he grabbed it and gave me a concussion when he shoved me into the wall and threw a few punches.”  
Gibbs’ eyes narrowed at that. How the hell had he not noticed? Why hadn’t Tony said anything? “And today?” He wanted to know it all.  
“Bruised my leg” Tony shrugged; honestly the fight hadn’t been that bad and he had been doing well until Abby had tackled him.  
“And you didn’t tell me about any of this because why?” Gibbs was doing his best to keep his temper down but the way Toney was treating this it was as though he had just gotten a splinter.  
“Because I could still work just fine so it didn’t matter” was Tony’s reply.  
Gibbs was about to tear into him for that. How could the kid possibly think that a concussion, sprained wrist, bruised leg and bruised torso didn’t matter? He opened his mouth to reply but Ducky beat him to it. “My dear boy the wrist is most likely broken and the leg is either broken or fractured and there is the possibility of a slight concussion. I’m going to take some x-rays patch you up and then we’ll see how we will proceed.”  
“I’m fi…” Tony was about to object but Gibbs cut him off.  
“You are NOT FINE DiNozzo! Now you will stay still and allow Ducky to patch you up or I will drag you down to the nearest hospital, your choice” Tony pouted but laid still after that. No way did he want to go to the hospital.  
Ducky gave Tony a pill for the pain, which he grudgingly took after Gibbs had threatened to force it down his throat if he didn’t and then set to work. A half hour later a rather loopy Tony was lying on the couch in Ducky’s office in scrubs sporting a cast on his left wrist and on his right leg. As Tony lay there in a semi-conscious state Gibbs and Ducky were in autopsy discussing Tony.  
“He will need to keep all weight off of his leg for two to three days then he will be alright to stand on it but no walking on it for at least seven to eight days. I can’t give him crutches because of his wrist so he will either need a wheelchair or to be carried. He will need antibiotics for two weeks twice a day and also something for the pain, a week for that should do.”  
“He won’t like the pain meds Duck”  
“I know Jethro but he needs them, I can get them in a liquid if you would prefer then you could just mix it in a drink.”  
“Yeah lets do that then it’ll be easier”  
“Very well. Now there is one more concern I have’  
“What’s that Duck?”  
“His weight Jethro. Now I know that Anthony tends to eat a large amount of junk when you all are at the office doing paper work however I have yet to see that reflect in his weight, in fact, he is extremely malnourished”  
“How extremely?”  
“A young man of Tony’s height and age should weigh between 150-160 pounds however Tony only weighs 70-75 pounds. I would have said something sooner but he has never really looked to be that bad off that is until I got a good look at his chest, you can count the ribs Jethro!”  
Gibbs had noticed it too but was hoping it was just the lighting that had made it look so bad. “What do you suggest we do?”  
“Well I’m going to be giving him a strict diet to follow he will need to eat about five times a day the three basic meals and then two snacks, if he wants more that’s fine but he must eat at the five. His servings will bet hat of a child’s to start with but he needs to eat all of the food put in front of him or, in some cases, drink all he is given. I will not sign off on his returning to work until he weighs at least 100 pounds and I want to check on him at least once if not twice a week”  
“Alright Duck, give me the diet and prescriptions and I’ll go have them filled and do some shopping. I’ll also stop by DiNozzo’s place and grab what he’ll need for an extended stay at my place. Would you mind keeping an eye on him until I return?”  
“Not at all”  
“Thanks Duck, see you later” and with that Gibbs walked out of autopsy and headed to Tony’s.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Gibbs used his copy of Tony’s key to get into the apartment and was surprised to find that it was rather bare. There was a bed (more of a cot really) tucked away in the corner with a perfect view of the T.V. with D.V.D./V.H.S. player, of course. There was a bookshelf full of movies and books alike (didn’t think DiNozzo was a reader he thought) there was a plastic table with two foldable lawn chairs and the kitchen and bathroom and finally the closet and dresser.  
Gibbs went straight to the closet and found two duffle bags he took them out then took all of the clothes out of the dresser (underpants, jeans, shorts, t-shirts and socks along with running clothes and one pair of sweats) then he took the second bag and got the movies and books that looked like they were used the most as well as the DVD/VHS player. Gibbs looked around one last time and noticed a small blue stuffed animal on Tony’s bed and packed it as well wondering what it could possibly be.   
After finishing at Tony’s he went to the local store and headed straight for the pharmacy so that he could get the prescriptions filled while he shopped. After being informed that the prescriptions would take thirty minutes Gibbs grabbed a cart and headed down the aisles to get the groceries on Ducky’s list.  
Most of Tony’s dietary needs were quite basic and easy to find but Ducky had also listed a few items he said would help Tony gain weight and provide him with the nutrients that his body is lacking, these items just so happened to be located in the baby/toddler section. Gibbs took a few minutes looking for the pediasure; baby cereal and a certain baby formula that Ducky had insisted would be good for Tony. Gibbs was willing to do whatever was necessary to get, and keep, Tony healthy however he got the distinct feeling that Tony wouldn’t easily agree to drinking baby formula and as he could sense a fight coming on he also decided to get the largest baby bottles and sippy-cups there were incase he had to force feed Tony his drinks. With the thought of Tony’s impending rebellion on his mind he also grabbed a baby monitor so as to keep tabs on his agent.  
By the time he had finished the shopping, putting everything away and hiding the baby monitor in the spare room it was going on 20:30 so he left to get DiNozzo.  
When Gibbs got back to autopsy he heard the incessant pleas of a certain young agent who was practically begging Ducky to let him leave.  
“You said I need to rest so why won’t you let me go home to do so?”  
“Because, my dear boy, you are in no condition to be taking care of yourself right now, you can’t even walk at the moment.”  
“I have had much worse than this before and it has never stopped me from being able to take care of myself” Gibbs cringed at that. Just what had Tony been through that was much worse than a broken wrist, concussion and a fractured leg? And why did no one help him?  
Gibbs could see Tony was about to go on and decided to put an end to his speech. “Alright DiNozzo lets head out” Gibbs said as he strolled into autopsy.  
Tony was ecstatic at being able to leave and went to jump off the table when he felt himself being picked up and placed in a wheelchair. “I can walk you know” he said indignantly as he then made to stand.   
Gibbs pushed him back down and held him there as he lent down till his mouth was level with Tony’s ear and said “You will stay in the chair and off the leg or I will have Ducky sedate you, understood?”  
“Yes boss” Tony said as he slumped back in his chair, crossed his arms and pouted the entire way through the parking lot and to Gibbs’ car. “Uh boss, my car’s over there” Tony said pointing over to where he had parked his car.  
“You can’t drive with that cast on DiNozzo” Gibbs said while lifting Tony into the passenger’s seat and buckling him in. Tony had tried to take over but Gibbs merely swatted his hands away and ordered him to sit still. Gibbs put the wheelchair into the back of his car and then started driving home.  
Tony remained silent during the car ride he just couldn’t believe that Gibbs was treating him like a child. He couldn’t wait to get home, lay on his bed (okay cot) and watch some movies or read. Tony was so deep in thought that he almost missed when Gibbs didn’t get off at his exit. “Uh boss, my place is back that way”  
“We’re not going to your place”  
“Then where are we going?”  
“To my place”  
“O.K.” Tony was a bit confused, he had been working at N.C.I.S. for about a year now and his boss had never brought him over to his place before. “Um, why?”  
“Because you can’t even stand let alone walk and you have definitely shown that you are incapable of taking care of yourself”  
“I have been taking care of myself since I was 4, injured or not, and am perfectly capable of continuing to do so. I don’t want to go to your place and I am going to be sleeping in my own bed tonight” Tony snapped he did not take kindly to Gibbs’ statement he had had many a broken bones all throughout his live, most courtesy of his father, and had never needed a care taker before. As far as he was concerned if he was still alive and moving then he must know what he’s doing.  
Gibbs just looked at Tony for a moment as he pulled into his drive he didn’t know what was bothering him more the fact that he was clearly used to having rather serious injuries and, apparently, ignoring them or that he was used to dealing with them alone and had been doing so for quite some time. He came back to his senses when he heard Tony curse as he attempted to open his door; the child-lock was proving to be a good call. “What you want isn’t my concern what you need however is. Ducky says you are not to put any weight on your foot, you need to gain weight and you need to heal. I would not call your apartment the perfect place for that your elevator is busted, you have no food in your kitchen and you sleep on a cot not a bed”  
“You’ve been to my apartment! What the hell, you had no right! That’s trespassing! I can’t believe you! Why were yo…” Tony was outraged, that was his private place. He wanted to say more but Gibbs cut him off by picking him up, placing him in the wheelchair and pushing him into the house and to the stairs.  
Gibbs was coming around from behind the chair to pick Tony up and carry him up the stairs and then get the chair so that Tony could move around upstairs when Tony decided to try to stand up on his own. Gibbs couldn’t believe the kid’s stupidity no weight meant no weight. He hurried around grabbed the kid before he could stand all the way and pushed him back down “What part of no weight on the foot didn’t you understand DiNozzo?”  
“If I can’t stand how do you expect me to get up the stairs?” Tony snapped back not feeling at all bad about his attitude. He glared up at Gibbs waiting for his response to what was, at least in Tony’s opinion, a reasonable response to such a stupid question. But Gibbs didn’t answer instead he picked Tony up placed him on his hip and carried him up the stairs and into the bathroom where he set him standing on his left leg.  
“Go to the bathroom and wash your hands, keep that foot off the floor, let me know when you’re done. If you do not I won’t let you alone in here again until Ducky says your good to walk understood?”  
Tony had been speechless up till now he was still in shock that his boss had actually carried him like a little toddler. He wasn’t intending on answering Gibbs because he was a bit irritated with the order but a growl from Gibbs had him hastening to respond “Yes boss” there was no way he wanted to loose his privacy in the restroom and he knew that Gibbs would keep his promise if he didn’t follow the rules.  
Gibbs waited outside the door as Tony used the bathroom. He knew that Tony needed to start eating and that they needed to go over some rules for Tony while he was staying there, Gibbs also wanted to know about Tony’s weight, the kid was just too skinny. Gibbs wanted to get started on all of the conversations but first Tony needed to sleep. The boy was tired and thus cranky. Ducky had said that Tony hadn’t shown any signs of a new concussion and the old one obviously didn’t do any damage so the kid would be all right to sleep throughout the night with no checks, which was a relief. Ducky had also said that the bruises on Tony’s torso were healing nicely and were no longer painful, they just looked bad.  
Gibbs was brought out of his musings when he heard the bathroom door opened and then heard the, rather annoyed, yell of “Boss!” come from his agent.  
Gibbs walked over picked Tony up and placed him on his hip not missing the glare Tony shot at him. Gibbs carried Tony into the guest room and pulled the covers back on the bed, he figured that scrubs would work for pajamas for one night, and laid Tony down brining the covers back up and tucking him in.   
Tony couldn’t believe that Gibbs was actually tucking him in. No one had ever tucked him in. No one had ever tucked him in before and it was rather nice and warm and he quickly found himself falling asleep before he could even protest being treated like a child.  
Gibbs sighed as he sat back watching his young charge sleep. Tony had seemed genuinely surprised when Gibbs tucked him in and Gibbs was having a hard time deciding if that was because Tony had rarely, if ever, had someone tuck him in before or if it was because it was Gibbs who had done it. Just one more thing to discuss the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tony woke to the smell of pancakes. It was a pleasant way to get up but when he went to get out of bed he was reminded of the previous days events. He gasped as he put his cast on the floor and was surprised to see Gibbs by his side only seconds later. How did he know?  
Gibbs had been in the kitchen making breakfast when the baby monitor had let him know that Tony was up. He was extremely grateful that he had set it up when he walked into the room and heard a hiss of pain come from his young agent. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked as he pushed Tony back onto the bed.  
“Had to pee and forgot about the cast”  
“How could you forget?” honestly who can just forget the pain and discomfort that comes with a fractured leg in a cast? “Come on then lets get you up and dressed then breakfast.”  
“Fine but I need to use the head first”  
“Fine” Gibbs leaned down and seemed to effortlessly pick Tony up and carried him to the bathroom.  
“What happened to the wheelchair?” Tony asked. He was becoming extremely agitated with Gibbs’ constantly carrying him.  
“It’s downstairs. I’m not carrying it up and down every time you go up and down. Now stay off the foot and let me know when you’re done.” Gibbs said as he placed Tony on his left leg in front of the toilet.  
“Yet you have no problem with carrying me up and down whenever you feel like it,” Tony mumbled under his breath as Gibbs shut the door.  
In truth Gibbs had originally planned on bringing the wheelchair up and down with DiNozzo however the young man’s constant attempts to stand and walk on his injured leg he felt it would be best if he were in more control of Tony’s mobility, at least for the time being. He turned as he saw Tony in the doorway of the bathroom looking around at Gibbs expectantly. “Lets get you dressed then” he said as he picked Tony up and carried him back to the guest room marveling at how light Tony truly was. This was the first time he had stopped to truly think about it. Tony was lighter than Kelly was when he had last carried her.  
“I can dress myself boss” tony said as he was placed back down on the bed.  
“Gonna have a hard go of it when you can’t stand and only have one good arm DiNozzo” Gibbs said as he picked out shorts and a t-shirt and brought it over to the bed.  
“I can manage just fine on my own” Tony said slightly agitated. As he went to take off his scrub top he found himself being laid down and the scrub pants being taken off. “Hey! Do you mind!” Tony screeched as he started trying to kick Gibbs off with his good leg.  
Gibbs grabbed Tony’s leg and held it still then looked at his agent. “DiNozzo you can’t get your pants on and off on your own. You need help. I’m going to help you get dressed then we are going down for breakfast.” Gibbs then started slipping the shorts on over Tony’s cast before pulling them up and fastening them.  
Tony sat up once Gibbs was done and put on his t-shirt. “I’ll be in the wheelchair downstairs yes?” not that he liked wheelchairs but it was better than being carried.  
“If you stay in the chair and don’t even try to get up” Gibbs said.  
“Deal!” Tony said as Gibbs began carrying him down the stairs. He was relieved to be in the wheelchair once again but was a bit put off when Gibbs took over the direction and movement of the chair. Tony was tired of being moved around by Gibbs and wanted to be in control of his own location. “Boss, I can do that you know” he said snippily.  
“You’ve got a bad wrist DiNozzo. You can’t wheel yourself” Gibbs said as he pushed Tony up to the table.   
Tony pouted at that he’d forgotten about his wrist but he wasn’t about to tell Gibbs that, he hadn’t missed the look of irritation that passed across his boss’ face when he said he had forgotten about his leg.  
“Here take your meds” Gibbs said as he brought over Tony’s antibiotic and a glass of orange juice with the pain meds mixed in.   
Tony swallowed the pill and the juice only after being assured that the pill was nothing more than antibiotics and was in no way pain meds. He looked down as a plate with two buttered pancakes and a glass of milk placed in front of him.   
“Syrup?” Gibbs asked as he too sat down at the table with his own plate and usual mug of coffee.  
“No thanks” Tony said as he picked up his fork and took a bite. The pancakes were good and Tony found that he actually ate half of the food before he was no longer hungry.  
He pushed his late away and started to try to wheel himself away from the table but found that the chair wouldn’t move, seems Gibbs had locked the chair when he placed Tony at the table. He looked around but he couldn’t find the lock so he looked over at his boss. Gibbs was sitting eating his breakfast and reading the paper, seemingly oblivious to his agent. “Uh Boss, … could you unlock the chair?”  
“No” was the immediate reply.  
“Why not?” Tony asked. He was becoming agitated but figured it wouldn’t be wise to irk Gibbs so early in the day lest he loose the wheelchair.  
“Because you haven’t finished your breakfast” Gibbs said as he pushed the plate back in front of Tony.  
Tony looked down at his plate with the one pancake remaining and then back up at his boss who had yet to look away from his paper. “I’m not hungry anymore boss”  
“Didn’t ask if you were DiNozzo, but you’ve still got to finish your breakfast”  
“I’m not eating anymore boss” Tony said in a voice that told of an end to the conversation.  
Gibbs looked up and away from his paper at this. He leveled his wayward agent with his patented glare “You will finish your breakfast before you are allowed to leave the table is that clear?”  
Tony crossed his arms and glared at Gibbs but no one had yet to win a staring contest with Gibbs before and Tony wasn’t able to break that streak. Eventually he lowered his eyes back to his plate and sighed “crystal boss” Tony picked up his fork and started eating his last pancake.  
“Don’t forget to drink your milk DiNozzo” Gibbs said as he went back to his paper.  
Tony looked up at his boss and huffed but drank the milk nonetheless.  
Once Tony had finished eating Gibbs began cleaning up. Tony was waiting for Gibbs to release him but when it became clear that he wasn’t going to Tony spoke up. “Uh, boss you gonna let me go?”  
“Just as soon as I’m done then we need to talk about the rules” Gibbs said while still working at the sink.  
“What rules?” Tony asked although he could guess where this was going and didn’t think that he could like it.  
“The rules for you DiNozzo. At least until you’re healthy again” Gibbs said as he turned around to face his agent.  
Tony gulped and sank back in his chair. Yup just what he was afraid of rules to make his life miserable.  
 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gibbs took thirty minutes to clean up the kitchen and Tony could have sworn that he was going slowly just to annoy him. When Gibbs finally sat down Tony became a little nervous he was used to the rules and expectation at work but he also knew that these rules were going to be much more unpleasant. No matter how nervous he was he was determined not to let it show after all nervousness was a sign of weakness and he was not weak.  
Gibbs cleared his throat bringing Tony out of his musings, “You ready to get started?” Gibbs asked.  
“Do I have a choice?” was Tony’s snarky reply.  
“No”  
Tony huffed, crossed his arms and pushed himself back in his chair. He glared at Gibbs but said nothing.  
Gibbs looked at Tony for a moment, the kid looked like an insolent child sitting there like that, if he didn’t know any better he would have guessed Tony was more of along the lines of a college student than a federal agent. “Alright lets get started. I’ve written down a list of rules that I expect you to follow and if you don’t there will be consequences.” Tony made to speak but Gibbs pushed a piece of paper his way then settled back to read his newspaper once again Tony glared at him before picking up the paper and reading it over.  
Rules  
1\. No Swearing  
2\. No Talking Back  
3\. No Lying  
4\. Must take ALL medicine prescribed (either by Ducky and any other that both he and I have approved of if needed)  
5\. Must eat, or drink, all food given to you  
6\. Must follow doctor’s orders  
7\. Must be honest about your injuries  
8\. Bedtime at 10 (unless recovering or as punishment)  
9\. No drinking caffeine or alcohol  
Consequences  
1\. Corner time (anywhere between 10-60 minutes)  
2\. Grounded to house  
3\. Grounded to room  
4\. Extra chores  
5\. Restrictions (such as to T.V., computer, phone, etc.)  
6\. Swear and I will wash your mouth out with soap  
Tony had been silently fuming as he read over the rules and consequences that Gibbs thought he would be imposing on him. He couldn’t believe it these were for little kids, he was an adult! “I’m not following these” Tony said as he tossed the list back at Gibbs.  
Gibbs set his paper down and filled his cup with coffee and sat back down before looking at his wayward agent. Tony had gone right back to his pout. “You will be following these rules unless you wish to receive the consequences.”  
“I am not a child!” Tony screamed, sounding all of five, “I will not be following your stupid rules and you can’t make me!”  
“I think that you could use some time to cool off” Gibbs said looking at Tony “normally I would put you in a corner however given your leg I think sitting right where you are will do just fine.” Gibbs then picked up his paper and went back to his reading.  
“I am not sitting here in a ‘time-out’” he said indignantly as he tried to move away from the table, he soon found that he wasn’t actually able to get out. Gibbs had pushed his chair right up to the table earlier and there wasn’t enough space to slip down and onto the floor, the chair was locked and try as he might he couldn’t reach the switch to release it. He would have pushed the table away and made to stand but Gibbs was sitting opposite him so he couldn’t. After realizing that he was well and truly trapped Tony gave up on his escape attempts and started shouting at Gibbs to let him out. Eventually he had screamed himself hoarse and slumped back in his seat thoroughly exhausted.  
Once Tony had calmed down Gibbs waited ten minutes before setting down his paper and looking over at the kid. “Are you ready to talk civilly now?” he asked.  
Tony looked over at him with a mutinous glare and for a second Gibbs that Tony was going to start screaming again but then the boys shoulders slumped and he gave a “yes boss” in a rather calm, if not singular, tone.  
“Good. Now these rules are not negotiable and you are to follow them or there will be consequences is that understood?”  
“Yes boss” Tony said again in that same tone.   
Gibbs gave a nod of his head. “Good, now do you have any questions?”  
“Why rule nine?”  
“Because Ducky said that due to your weight it would be unhealthy for you to consume alcohol and unwise to let you have caffeine unless I want a very hyperactive agent to deal with. It seems that both have heightened effects the less you weigh.”  
“And what exactly is the issue with my weight?” he asked. He knew, of course, that according to Ducky, and most doctors, that he was nowhere near his ‘appropriate’ weight. He had always found it difficult to gain weight blaming the issue on the fact that he seemed to be in constant motion. He was never one for sitting still he was always moving and that tender to burn calories, add to that a profession that never kept regular hours and meals had been missed. It was no big deal if he didn’t eat at regular intervals, he never had, one of DiNozzo Senior’s most common punishments was to send him away without food, couple that with all the meals he missed while locked in one dark room or another or from laying unconscious after a beating and Tony had learned early on that it was best to ignore his stomach. Despite others opinions however he had never seen an issue with his weight so long as he could still do his job well then he was good to go. Apparently Gibbs did not share this opinion.  
Gibbs knew that Tony understood the issue with his weight the boy just didn’t seem to care and that bothered him. “You already know the issue with your weight Tony” Gibbs said giving his agent a ‘don’t-play-dumb-with-me’ look.  
“It’s a little lower than Ducky would like but it has never hindered my performance or affected my job in any way so I don’t see the problem.   
“The problem is that you are slowly killing yourself and it stops now!” Gibbs could see that Tony was about to argue so he cut him off “No this is not your choice, you have clearly shown that you have no interest in your own well being so now I am taking over, end of discussion” and with that Gibbs stood up and walked over to the counter to fix Tony his snack, baby cereal and pediasure. Once Gibbs got up Tony started to push the table away. “Leave the table alone unless you want another time-out” Gibbs said as he moved the table back and walked back over to finish what he had been doing.  
Tony huffed and went back to his pout but he kept his attention on what Gibbs was doing. It was clear that the man was trying to block Tony’s view but he could still make out some of the wording on the box. When Gibbs placed the bowl, spoon and cup in front of Tony, he pushed it away. “I am not eating baby food not to mention we just ate two hours ago.”  
Gibbs sighted internally, he had tried to keep Tony from seeing what he was making but the kid had good eyesight. He leveled Tony with his patented glare “rule 4” he said as he pushed the bowl back towards the boy and held it there.  
“I’m not hungry”  
“Doesn’t matter”  
“It’s baby food”  
“Ducky’s orders”  
“I’m not eating it”  
“You are even if I have to feed it to you”  
“I’m not eating it and you can’t make me”  
Gibbs glared at him “Listen to me” he waited for Tony to make eye contact “You will be eating this the only question is how either you will eat it yourself and then go and watch a movie or I will fee it to you and then you will spend thirty minutes sitting a the table it’s your choice.” Tony stared at Gibbs trying to decide if the man really would force-feed him. He was beginning to doubt it when he saw Gibbs’ hand pick up the spoon as he came around to Tony’s side. “Fine. Have it your way then.”  
Gibbs brought the spoon up to Tony’s mouth and held it there. Tony sat there glaring at Gibbs wondering if he was serious. Surely he had to know that Tony wouldn’t open his mouth just because his boss held a spoon in front of it. What he hadn’t expected was for Gibbs to clamp his nose shut so that he had to open his mouth in order to breathe. Tony immediately brought his arms up to fight off Gibbs but not before Gibbs got the spoon into his mouth. Once the food was in Gibbs removed his hand from Tony’s nose and used it to cover Tony’s mouth instead so that he couldn’t spit it out. Eventually Tony swallowed then glared at Gibbs as he brought his hands up to cover his mouth.  
Gibbs brought another spoonful up to Tony’s mouth “Move your hand Tony” he ordered.  
Tony emphatically shook his head no determined that he would not swallow anymore.  
Gibbs sighed, put the spoon down then walked over behind Tony releasing his wheelchair and pulling him out. For all of three seconds Tony thought that he’d actually won. That was until Gibbs picked him up, sat down in a kitchen chair and put Tony on his lap. Gibbs secured Tony’s legs between his own, clamped his right arm between Tony’s side and his chest and held his left arm against Tony’s other side with his left arm the cast being stuck on Tony’s lap. Gibbs then picked up the spoon and brought it back up to Tony’s lips. “Open” he ordered.  
Tony paused in his attempts to free himself and looked his boss in the eye. He could see now that Gibbs wasn’t going to let this drop and he certainly wasn’t going to win this round. His face burned red as he slumped his shoulders and opened his mouth.  
Gibbs nodded his head “Atta boy” he said as he reached into his front shirt pocket pulled out a lid and started screwing it onto the cup with the pediasure. “Here, drink” Gibbs said as he brought the spout up to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony couldn’t believe it. He had just assumed that it was a basic cup he hadn’t even noticed that it had the grooves to fit a lid. The last thing he wanted to do was drink from a sippy-cup. He turned pleading eyes on Gibbs but the only response he got was Gibbs shaking the cup and bringing it closer to his mouth. Tony gave his boss one last pleading look before accepting the inevitable and opening his mouth for the drink.  
The rest of the food was gone quickly; in reality it was only about five spoonfuls of cereal and a half a cup of pediasure. When Tony was finished Gibbs put Tony into his wheelchair, pushed it back up to the table and locked it in place.   
“Boss?” Tony asked as he shot Gibbs a confused look.  
“Thirty minutes” Gibbs answered.  
Tony slumped in his seat. He had forgotten about that. Unlike last time though he did not attempt to escape and he did not throw a tantrum he just sat there. Bored.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tony felt as though he’d been sitting there for hours when Gibbs finally came over and released him. “Maybe next time you won’t throw a tantrum over eating” Gibbs said as he pushed Tony into the living room.  
“It was baby food!” Tony said indignantly.  
“It’s good for you thus you will eat it” Gibbs said as he picked Tony up and sat him on the couch with his foot on a pillow on the coffee table. “Here” he said as he handed Tony the remote. “Do not try to get up and call me if you need anything.” And with that he walked back into the kitchen to clean up the dishes.  
Tony sighed and turned on the T.V. This wasn’t a Gibbs he was used to dealing with this Gibbs was worse. Tony had become used to Gibbs’ moods, head slaps, and high expectations as well as his rules for the job. Now Tony had no idea what to expect, he had never seen this side of Gibbs before and it scared him. Gibbs was being obsessive about Tony’s health and he just couldn’t figure our why the man even cared. Sure Tony was an employee but his health had never affected his job so it shouldn’t matter. Tony was honestly confused as to why his boss seemed to care so much when his own father wouldn’t have even batted an eye if his only child was in two casts, although to be fair his father was the reason for most of the casts he needed throughout his life. Gibbs’ rules were also bothering him. Why did Gibbs care if he took his meds, or slept, or ate so long as he healed quickly and was back to work A.S.A.P.? What bothered him more than the rules though, was the consequences. Tony had never been grounded, restricted or put in the corner and he was a bit concerned about what all of those truly entailed, maybe they were a nice way of saying what would happen. Tony could remember being locked in many a room when he was little they were always dark, cold, creepy, and small and more often then not they were in the basement or the attic of the massive DiNozzo estate. Maybe that’s what Gibbs had meant about being restricted to a room. Tony wondered if being grounded meant he would be locked in the shed out back he honestly doubted that Gibbs would throw him in a pit but you never could tell. Of course a beating or whipping would probably come first they always did, every time, before he was locked in a room. The restrictions weren’t too difficult to figure they most likely meant loosing what he valued, he could only hope that Gibbs wouldn’t do that too often because he didn’t own much and really didn’t want to have to watch his few important possessions be destroyed. What really confused Tony was the corner thing. As far as he could tell it could be one of two things either he would be made to stand facing the corner so that he wouldn’t be able to tell how, when, or where Gibbs would be striking meaning that he would be on constant high alert or, worse yet, it could be what he called the rice punishment. Tony hated the rise punishment, it was worse than any whipping he’d ever received. He could still remember kneeling on the rice for hours as it dug into his legs and knees, all the while being cramped in a dinky little closet where all there was to look at was corners because it was so small that he had to kneel sideways just so he would fit. Either way Tony was grateful that Gibbs had decided not to make Tony o that until his leg healed. He couldn’t help but think that it might be wise to actually fake pain in his leg for as long as he was forced to stay with Gibbs. While he hated to appear weak, it was better than the rice. He wondered what punishment he would get if Gibbs found out that he had lied about the bruises on his torso. While it was true that they weren’t from yesterdays altercation with the perp. They also weren’t from chasing the witness either. No they were from dear old dad. His father had stopped by a couple of nights before the chase because he needed to blow off some steam and decided, as he had many other times, that Tony was the best way to do it. Tony didn’t know what Gibbs would do it he learned that Tony had lied about the bruises but there was one thing that he was sure of, as long as he followed Gibbs’ stupid rules then there would be no pain. He could do that, sure he could. At least they were written down, in pen, harder to change that way. OK so all he had to do was to behave for a week, he could do that, right? Tony couldn’t help but wonder why he had been such a brat about the snack. Sure he didn’t like it but he didn’t like a lot of things and he didn’t throw a fit about it. The only time he ever let go of his emotions like that was when he was on painkillers. He knew he hadn’t taken a pill for them, Gibbs had insisted the pill earlier was in no way a pain med and Tony believed him. That only left one other possibility.  
Gibbs had finished in the kitchen quickly and then taken a book and sat in the armchair in the living room. He looked over at Tony and saw that there were a wide range of emotions playing across his face, some anger, confusion and fear from what he could tell. It was odd for Gibbs to see Tony looking so open. Usually the kids face was unreadable or portrayed whatever emotion that he wanted others to see. Tony’s ability to keep up different masks was something that made him damn good undercover but it also made it difficult to see the real Anthony DiNozzo. Typically Gibbs could see past the masks enough to know when Tony was lying or if something was really bothering him but apparently he couldn’t tell when Tony was really hurt. When Tony had first started working for him he had thought that it would be easy to see when the kid got hurt given that he would whine for hours about something as small as a paper cut. Apparently that wasn’t the case. Gibbs never thought that someone would be able to fool him especially not one of hos own agents but he was wrong. The level of skill it would take to do so was scary and it was even more disturbing that Tony had that skill. In Gibbs’ experience one did not come by a skill like that naturally no, it was a learned trait and the only way to learn something was to practice at it. From what he could see Tony had had a lot of practice. Gibbs had known that DiNozzo Senior had been extremely neglectful of his son for some time now it was obvious in the way that Tony constantly sought his attention whether it be good or bad. Gibbs now suspected that Senior had also physically abused his son and rather extensively given Tony’s ability to mask his pain so well. This revelation made him despise DiNozzo Senior and made him despise DiNozzo Senior and care for Tony even more. Over the course of the year Gibbs had found himself caring even ore for his senior field agent. He eventually realized (after a long conversation with Ducky involving a couple of glasses of bourbon) that he saw the younger man as a son; the son he never got to have. The boy would be about the right age, it was obvious that he was rather young, younger than his file that’s for sure, and he was so much like Gibbs that it was almost impossible not to compare the two heck some of the MCRT had even takes to calling Tony ‘Gibbs Junior’ when they talked amongst themselves.  
Gibbs had been sitting there for a while watching Tony and lost in his own thoughts when Tony turned to him and said “you put pain meds in my food didn’t you?”  
It was a statement not a question and Gibbs knew it. “No, I mixed it in with the orange juice”  
“You should have told me” Tony said irritated.  
“You would have refused to take it if I had”  
“So it’s my body, my choice”  
“That’s where you’re wrong, as we discussed this morning you have proven you can’t take care of yourself so now it’s my turn you will follow the rules and if you remember correctly rule 4 covers this perfectly” Gibbs said standing up and walking into the kitchen effectively ending the discussion.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tony was outraged. What gave Gibbs the right to give him pain meds against his will? Then to say that Tony had no say over his own life that he couldn’t take care of himself. Well clearly he could take care of himself after all he was 20 and still standing so mission accomplished. He was sick of Gibbs saying where he was to go and what he was to do it was time to show Gibbs that Anthony DiNozzo would not bow down to anyone’s authority but his own. Having decided this he started scooting alone the couch towards his wheelchair. When he got to the edge of the couch he put both feet on the floor and pulled the chair over to him.  
Tony had just stood up and was in the process of turning to sit in his chair when two hands lifted him up and carried him away from his chair and his leg was placed in another. “Explain to me what part of ‘NO weight on your foot’ was confusing” Gibbs ordered looking down at Tony with his arms crossed.  
Tony looked up at Gibbs. He knew that he shouldn’t have been pushing him and typically he wouldn’t be, but the stupid pain killers always made him loose control of his emotions. He acted rashly and he knew it. Tony knew he should apologize and he had been all set to do so until he looked up and saw Gibbs standing there like a parent scolding their child. He snapped, “I’m sick of you telling me what I can and can’t do and where I can and can’t go! I’m an adult and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself been doing it for as long as I can remember. I am not going to stay here. If you continue to treat me like a child then you will have my letter of resignation first thing tomorrow.”  
Gibbs looked at Tony for a long moment taking in what he said. Gibbs was quiet for so long that Tony believed he had won until “First: If you were able to take care of yourself you wouldn’t weight 70 pounds and you wouldn’t have tried to hide you injuries what you have done so far is managed to keep yourself alive and functioning” Tony didn’t see the difference between being alive and functioning and being able to take care of himself if they were the same to him and he meant to tell Gibbs that but Gibbs wasn’t done. “Second: I will treat you the age that you act, if you wish to be treated as an adult then act like one. So far you have acted like a child thus that is how you are treated. Third: Whether you work for me or not makes no difference because you will still be here, following my rules, until Ducky says that you are 100% and I know that you’ll stay that way.”  
Tony did interrupt here “Why would you keep me here if I no longer worked for you?” he asked confused.  
“Because I want to make sure you’re alright”  
“O.K. but, why?” Tony was genuinely confused why keep him around if he was no longer an employee. So far he’d understood he was here because Gibbs had put a lot of time into him and his boss didn’t want to have to start over but if he no longer worked for Gibbs “what good am I to you if I don’t work for you?”  
Gibbs stopped. He honestly hadn’t expected that to come out of Tony’s mouth. Did the kid really think that little of himself? Had no one ever told him he was important? Well it was time for some changes. Gibbs brought a chair over and sat down next to Tony, he grabbed Tony’s chin and turned his head so that they were facing each other. “This had nothing to do with what you can do for me and everything to do with whether or not you’re alright. I care about you as if you were my own and that won’t change whether you work for me or not understood?”  
“Why would you care about me if I am of no use to you?” It was asked quietly and shyly but it was an honest question.  
“Because you are a good person and someone I am proud to know now it’s time for lunch” and with that Gibbs let go of Tony’s chin, ruffled his hair and stood up to mix Tony a glass of orange juice and pain meds.  
Tony sat there staring at Gibbs and going over his words again and again in his mind. Nobody had ever done something nice for him without wanting something from him in return it simply wasn’t done. He was interrupted from his musings when a plate with half a sandwich and about ten grapes on it was put in front of him along with a bottle of water and a glass of orange juice. He glared at the juice, he knew what it was “I’m not drinking that” he stated.  
“You are the only choice you have is whether or not you do it voluntarily. If I have to feed it to you, you will owe me thirty minutes. Now Eat” with that Gibbs grabbed his own sandwich and sat down as well.  
Tony glared at his food, he had just eaten, he wasn’t hungry. He wanted to say as much but knew that if he did then he Gibbs would force-feed him his food and he didn’t like that. He decided to go along with it for now but he wasn’t going to drink the juice.  
Gibbs watched as Tony ate his food and drank his water but noticed that Tony made no effort to drink his juice in fact Tony kept subtly pushing it farther away from him throughout his lunch. “You need to drink the juice Tony” Gibbs said once Tony had finished eating and was just sitting back in his chair.  
“No”  
“Fine have it your way then” Gibbs said as he got up, put the lid on the juice cup and went over to Tony. “Open up” he said as he placed the lip of the cup to Tony’s mouth. Tony fervently shook his head no refusing to take the meds he knew were in the juice. Gibbs sighed picked Tony up and placed him on his lap pinning him down just like earlier. He wondered if this was going to become a routine and if so whether or not they should just start all meals like this. “Now, open up” he ordered as he once again brought the lip of the cup up to Tony’s mouth. Tony just glared at the cup and shook his head again. Gibbs brought his free hand up and clamped down on Tony’s nose so that he would have to open his mouth to breath. Tony struggled to get away but he couldn’t get free of Gibbs’ grasp and eventually he had to open his mouth. As soon as his mouth was open Gibbs shoved the cup in and released his nose. Tony glared at Gibbs but he drank the juice.  
Once the juice was gone Gibbs put the cup on the table but kept Tony on his lap. They still had to finish their discussion. “You have lost the use of the wheelchair for the time being because of your stunt earlier” he stated.  
“Lost, is that a restriction?” Tony asked.  
“Yes”  
“What! You don’t need to, I won’t do it again, please don’t destroy it” Tony pleaded. He didn’t much like the wheelchair but it was either that or his boss carrying him around like a toddler so he didn’t want to loose it.  
Gibbs looked at Tony where the hell had that come from? “I’m not destroying anything I’m just going to put it somewhere where you can’t use it for a few days”  
Tony was confused but also somewhat hopeful if he wasn’t destroying the wheelchair then maybe restriction didn’t mean destruction. “So if you restrict me from something you won’t destroy it?” he asked.  
Gibbs paused. Why would Tony think that? Is that a punishment he had received before? “Is that what it meant when you were little?” he asked softly.  
“Yeah” Tony said “only it wasn’t called a restriction I was just told that I was losing something and then he would destroy it right in front of me so that I would know it was gone and not go looking for it.” Tony paused he had never meant to say that and he never would have if it hadn’t been for the meds. “I have painkillers” he scowled.  
Gibbs sighed, he hadn’t known that, “I will never break or destroy your things Tony restriction only means that you will not be allowed to have said item for a set amount of time”  
“Promise?” Tony asked meekly.  
“Promise” Gibbs said.  
Tony gave a sigh of relief it was nice to have that mystery solved.  
“Now I believe you owe me thirty minutes” Gibbs said as he stood up, placed Tony on his hip and brought a chair over to face the corner.  
“What are you doing?” Tony asked beginning to panic slightly.  
“I’m putting you in the corner”  
“But you said earlier that you wouldn’t do put me in the corner because of my leg” Tony said as he tried desperately to get away “my legs still hurt so you can’t put me in the corner!”  
“You won’t be standing that’s what the chair is for” Gibbs said as he turned his head to look at Tony. Tony was extremely pale with wide eyes staring at the chair as if it were a death sentence. “What’s wrong” Gibbs asked softly but Tony didn’t reply he just started whimpering. Gibbs didn’t understand why Tony was so afraid of sitting in the corner but it was clear that the idea terrified him. Gibbs sighed terrifying the kid was never his goal. “O.K. how about I turn the chair around so you can see?” he asked.  
Tony looked at Gibbs with big pleading eyes “really?” he asked meekly.  
Well that settled it. Turning the chair around he placed Tony on it and walked away “thirty minutes” he called over his shoulder. Tony sighed with relief then slumped back in his chair. Thirty minutes seemed like a long, long time.  
Finally Tony’s thirty minutes were up (these timeouts were going to drive him crazy) and Gibbs came back over. Gibbs carried him to the bathroom and then back to his bedroom. “Uh boss, couldn’t I go back and watch T.V.?” he asked.  
“Later, right now you need a nap”  
“I’m not a little kid boss, I don’t take naps”  
“It’ll help you heel and it’ll be good for you” Gibbs said while staring at the bags under Tony’s eyes. Last night Tony had slept fitfully and it hadn’t really helped him catch up on his sleep.  
“But…”  
“This is not open for debate you are taking a nap” Gibbs stated as he tucked Tony into the bed.  
“I’ll lay here but I’m not gonna be able to sleep boss. I’m not tired”  
“We’ll see” Gibbs said as he sat on the edge of the bed and started to gently rub up and down on Tony’s back.   
“What ya doin boss?” Tony asked as he tried to stifle a yawn. The bed was warm; he hadn’t had a peaceful sleep in ages and this felt really good.  
“Just relax Tony. I’ve got your six” Gibbs said softly as he continued to rub.  
“Promise?” Tony asked as he closed his eyes.  
“Yeah kid I promise, you’re safe here,” Gibbs whispered as Tony fell into a restful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Gibbs had just finished fixing the formula and was about to go wake Tony when Ducky walked through the door carrying his medical bag.  
“Hello Jethro, how are you doing?” Ducky inquired as he made his way into the kitchen.  
“Fine, what brings you here Duck?”  
“I came to check on young Anthony, where is he?”  
“He’s taking a nap upstairs I was just about to go wake him, it’s time for his next snack”  
“Oh good how’s that going?”  
“He ate breakfast with some encouragement. He saw what I was making for his first snack and refused to eat so I fed him. He ate lunch but figured out the meds and refused to take them so I had to force that into him as well.”  
“Well that’s to be expected. Anthony isn’t one for eating apparently; at least you seem to have that under control. Aside from the eating how are things going?”  
“He had a rough night. He didn’t sleep for more than two hours before waking up from a nightmare. He isn’t happy about not being in control of things either I’ve already had to put him in three time-outs and restricted him from his wheelchair.”  
“I take it that you’re carrying him then?” with a nod from Gibbs he moved on “And how did the restriction go over?”  
“He didn’t like it but once I told him I wasn’t going to destroy his things he calmed down.”  
“Why on earth would he think that you’d destroy his things?”  
“Apparently that’s what restriction meant when he was little” Gibbs growled as he explained.  
“Oh…I…I don’t know what to say to that. It’s a terrible idea for a punishment”  
“I agree Duck. What really got me was when I went to put him in the corner?  
“Why? What happened?” Ducky suspected he might know what Tony’s reaction had been but he wanted to hear Jethro’s explanation first.  
“I don’t know Duck. His first two time-puts had happened close together so I sat him in his wheelchair at the table, he wasn’t happy but that was it. When I pulled a kitchen chair over to the corner he tried to pull away from me and started to practically beg me not to put him there. He was terrified of facing the corner. I turned the chair around and he calmed down. I just wish I knew why.”  
Ducky sighed, he had a feeling he knew exactly why Tony was scared to face a corner. “Jethro what all do you know of young Anthony’s childhood?” he queried.  
“Not as much as I’d like. I know his mother died when he was six and that his father was neglectful.” Gibbs paused “I have also come to suspect that he may have been physically abused as well” he finished.  
“Yes I would suspect so also”  
“You know something I don’t Duck?” Gibbs asked raising an eyebrow and leveling Ducky with one of his famous glares letting him know that if he knew something about Tony he’d better tell.  
Ducky sighed this was not pleasant to say or hear. “Now I know nothing for certain as he has never told me” Ducky clarified.  
“But…” Gibbs prodded.  
“But I have noticed the numerous concussions and broken bones in his medical file. There are quite a few from when he was a child, I’m not quite sure how old he was when it started because I do not believe that he is currently 28 years old. I have also seen various scars on his back that, from the looks of them, were made by various objects. If I had to guess…” Gibbs’ pointed look told him that’s exactly what the doctor had to do “I would hazard to say a belt, cane or some type of rod and a riding crop or whip and who knows what else. There also appears to be a series of burns along his side that look as though they were made from a heated rod of metal. And these are just the injuries that left permanent scars who knows what else happened to the poor boy. Now if I were to make a suggestion as to explain Anthony’s reaction to having to face the corner I would say it was because he wouldn’t be able to see around him to know if there is a danger present. It scared him”  
Gibbs just stood there quietly for a few minutes not sure what to make of Ducky’s revelation. He didn’t know what he had expected but that wasn’t it. He had no idea Tony’s childhood had been so bad and that was just the parts he couldn’t hide who knew what else had happened to him. A question occurred to him as he remembered the cup still in his hand. “Could this have something to do with his weight?” he asked.”  
“That would be my guess yes. From what I can tell Tony’s body has become used to ignoring the pain of hunger and just eats away at itself. Any food that he does eat gets used up almost immediately. Much like an infant he needs to eat regularly in order to get his body accustomed to using the food as energy and leaving the body alone. It will take some time but eventually his body will respond. The issue is that something like this is that it has to occur when a person is very young, before they have had the opportunity to develop a proper digestive system.”  
“How young would that be duck?”  
"About two and a half to three years" Ducky sighed "Of course based on his records he was about ten when the abuse started"  
"That's a seven to seven and a half year age gap there Duck"  
"Yes Jethro it is"  
"So if you had to guess how ole he is now?"  
"I would say that he is approximately 20 years old"  
"That would make him no more than a child" Gibbs exclaimed.  
"Yes indeed Jethro, tell me did you ever check if the information that Anthony put in his file was accurate?"  
"Yeah Duck I called all of the references and they all agreed that Tony had worked there and that he had been a good cop and that they were sad to see him go. Why?" Gibbs knew there was a reason for Ducky's question. The man didn't ask a question like that without knowing the information first.  
"Well after you left last night I had Abigail look into, alright hack, all of the places that Anthony has been employed and while he did tell the truth about having worked there it seems that his time lines were a bit off"  
"Off how Duck?"  
"It seems that Anthony worked at Peoria for six months followed by Philly for a year and lastly Baltimore for another year. It also appears that while he did go to college on a sports scholarship he also went on an academic one as well. He entered college at age 14 and was there for two and a half years before walking away with a masters in criminal psychology, mathematics, computers, and forensics as well as a bachelors in criminal justice, communication and physical education."  
"How the hell did he get all of that in two and a half years?"  
"Oh I'm sorry I miss represented he started all of those when he was 14 but that was his current resume. He seems to have tested out of most of his classes leaving him to only have to take a handful for his degrees thus he completes them quite quickly. His degree in computers could easily show why he was able to adjust his resume though"  
"Well I'll be discussing that with him soon enough"  
"Good" Ducky nodded his head in agreement "Now we should go check on him" and with that they headed upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Both men walked into the room and smiled at the site that greeted them. Tony was lying on his side, facing the door, with his thumb in his mouth and holding the little blue toy to his chest. Gibbs couldn’t help but think how young he looked lying there.   
“It’s not good for him to suck his thumb” Ducky tutted.  
“He’s sleeping peacefully and it’s not like he got to do it as a kid” Gibbs growled. He wasn’t certain if Tony had sucked his thumb as a kid or not but given what he’d learned it was a safe bet.  
“I wasn’t saying it like that Jethro. I merely meant that if he suck his thumb it will push out his teeth and he’ll end up needing braces.” Ducky explained, “You should find him something else to suck on”   
“Any suggestions?” Gibbs asked although he had a pretty good idea of what Ducky would say the issue being that Tony wouldn’t like it.  
“Well there is a reason the pacifier was invented” Ducky said “but it might be best to put it in after he’s fallen asleep for the time being. Actually, a pacifier is a good idea it might help to avoid the nightmares it is known to raise endorphin levels and provide comfort something the poor lad desperately needs.”  
“Alright I’ll try it tonight” Gibbs sighed.  
“You have one?” Ducky asked surprised.  
“Yeah some free with a packet of two bottles. Got two actually”  
“And why, exactly, do you have bottles Jethro?”  
“In case I have to force him to drink. Sippy-cups only go so far before they leak” Gibbs explained. He walked over to Tony then and started rubbing smooth circles on his back while quietly asking him to wake up.  
It took a moment but Tony eventually opened his eyes. When he saw his thumb in his mouth he yanked it out and turned a deep shade of red “Sorry Boss” he all but whispered.  
“What the heck are you sorry about DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked. What did the kid think he’d done?  
Tony blushed harder “For acting like a baby. It was childish and I shouldn’t have done it. It won’t happen again” he said as if he were speaking off a script.  
Well that confirmed Gibbs’ theory. “Hey” Gibbs said as he reached out to put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, not missing the flinch, “Hey, you did nothing wrong. You’re not in trouble” he said. Despite what he said one look in Tony’s eyes told Gibbs that the kid didn’t believe him, that was something they’d have to work on later. “Here, I brought you something to drink” Gibbs said as he handed Tony the sippy-cup hopping that this would be easy.  
Tony eyed the cup warily “I don’t want any pain meds” he said. It wasn’t a refusal so he couldn’t get punished he reasoned.  
“It’s not pain meds. There’s no medicine in here, it’s just a drink.” Gibbs said as he held the cup out towards Tony.  
“I’m not drinking out of that” Tony said still eyeing the sippy-cup though now with utter dis-like.  
Gibbs decided to nip this in the bud. “You are going to drink what is in this cup the only option you have is whether you do it voluntarily or I feed it to you and then you face the consequences” he said.  
Tony still started at the cup and Gibbs thought he would have to, once again, force-feed Tony. Just before he was about to call time Tony huffed “Fine” and took the cup and drank the liquid a scowl present on his face the entire time.  
“Atta boy” Gibbs praised smiling.  
“You’re weird you know that” Tony blurted out, once again cursing the pain meds for his loss of a verbal sensor.  
Gibbs quirked an eyebrow “and how’s that?” he asked.  
Tony wanted to refuse to answer but once again his desire to remain quiet was out ruled by his mouth’s impulsiveness. “My father would refuse to feed me and punish me if I ate and yet here you are forcing food down my throat every couple of hours”   
Gibbs kept his face neutral but he was fuming on the inside. Who the hell starved their own kid and then beat them for eating because that’s what Tony had meant by punishment of that Gibbs was certain. “You’re father was an ass who didn’t know what a precious gift he’d been given.”  
Tony was shocked by those words. If he had ever said such a thing to his father he would be black and blue in no time probably bordering on consciousness. “What gift?” he asked.  
Gibbs cupped Tony’s cheek in his hand and looked him straight in the eye. “You” he said simply, as though it were obvious.  
Tony broke eye contact and looked down at his hands “I’m not a gift” he whispered.  
Gibbs lifted his chin so that they were once again looking each other in the eye “You are to me. I love ya kiddo” he said sincerely.  
Suddenly Tony launched himself at Gibbs wrapping his arms around him and sobbed (damn pain meds). No one had ever said that to him before and with the meds lowering his self-control and screwing with his emotions he had just reacted. Gibbs hesitated for a half of a second before wrapping his arms around Tony, rubbing his back and rocking him gently. He was content to hold Tony until he had calmed. Ducky excused himself quietly not wanting to disrupt them.   
It took about twenty minutes before Tony stopped crying and is breathing evened out. The thumb sneaking up to the mouth was what told Gibbs that Tony was once again asleep. He got off the bed and laid the boy down. He was about to get Ducky when the moon appeared in the doorway.  
“If you could give me a hand I can look him over and let you be” Ducky said as he walked into the room and set his things on a chair.  
“Sure thing Duck what do you need?” Gibbs said.  
“Well upon further inspection of the x-ray of his leg I have learned that it is sprained, not fractured, and decided that the lab would fair better with a brace for a week and then a walking boot after, both of which are removable. So the first thing we need to do is to take the cast off” Ducky said “next I will put the brace on and then look him over just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”  
With that they got to work. Gibbs undressed Tony and helped duck remove the cast and put on the brace. Duck checked over Tony’s arm and torso, took his temp and blood pressure then listened to his lungs. “All right Jethro all done, nothing new to report” he said. “Now I’m just going to grab something and then I’ll be back. Why don’t you get the lad dressed for bed.”  
“Will do Duck” Gibbs said. Getting the sleep pants on was easy but Tony had yet to remove his thumb from his mouth and it was a heck of a fight getting the top on. Gibbs snuck a look at Tony’s back before pulling his shirt down. Duck had been right, there were lots of scars. He felt the strong desire to torture DiNozzo Senior slowly and painfully.  
“How’d you manage to get the top on around the thumb?” Ducky chuckled as he walked back into the room carrying a bottle and a blue pacifier.  
“It wasn’t easy” Gibbs said then noticing what Ducky had brought with him he quirked an eyebrow at the man. “What’s those for?” he asked.  
“Due to how tired the lad is I thought this” Ducky said holding up the bottle “would be an appropriate substitute to dinner so that he can just sleep and this” he now held up the pacifier “is to replace the thumb.”  
“All right but why a bottle why not a cup?” Gibbs asked as he reached down to wake Tony.  
“No Jethro don’t wake him” Ducky said “pick him up and feed him the milk while he sleeps that’s why a bottle” he explained.  
“Oh” Gibbs said. He picked Tony up and sat in the chair setting Tony on his lap and tilting him a bit. He reached his hand out to Ducky silently asking for the bottle. Ducky handed it over. Gibbs wrestled Tony’s thumb from his mouth and Tony started to whine in his sleep. Gibbs put the nipple of the bottle up to Tony’s lips and to his surprise Tony latched on quickly, this was certainly a change from any other meal he’d had today. Gibbs looked in surprise up at Ducky.  
“Subconsciously his body craves nourishment. It knows what it needs. Feeding him a bottle in his sleep should be easy” Ducky explained answering the unasked question.  
When the bottle was finished Gibbs took it out of Tony’s mouth. Before the thumb could make it back up Ducky took the bottle from Gibbs and handed over the pacifier, which Gibbs put into Tony’s mouth. Tony accepted it happily and gave a contented sigh in his sleep.  
Gibbs tucked Tony into bed and gave him his little blue toy; he still didn’t know what it was. He leaned down and placed a kiss on Tony’s forehead before heading to the door and turning off the light. He left the door cracked in case Tony needed him and made sure the baby monitor was on.  
He said good night to Ducky and went down to the basement to reflect on the day and work on his boat. Not long after 23:00 he called it a night and went to bed wondering what new surprises he was in store for tomorrow.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tony came around to the warmth of sunlight coming through the window touching his face. He was rather comfortable and didn’t really want to get up. He laid there with his eyes closed enjoying the peace of the moment. He felt well rested which was nice, and rather unusual. He vaguely remembered Gibbs waking him up yesterday and making him drink something. His face flushed instantly as he recalled how he had broken down in front of his boss (pain meds are evil!). Well he can’t change what he did but he can change how he acts now. It was nice to have a clear head.  
Tony did a self-check. His wrist hurt but it was manageable, his chest felt fine but probably had some bruises, his leg felt lighter – he’d have to check that – and lastly his thumb wasn’t in his mouth. That was a relief, father always said that he did not want a child and thus Tony was not to act like one. He was to behave as though he were a shrunken adult. He never had a childhood, he’d never been allowed to and he had learned to be O.K. with that, but occasionally he did wake up with his thumb in his mouth (usually after a trying time plagued with nightmares and many sleepless nights). It was embarrassing but did happen however not usually in front of his boss.  
Tony sighed, he knew it was time to get up and, for once, he really didn’t want to. He reached his right hand up and ran it over his face but stopped when he felt something hard at his mouth. He pulled it out and opened his eyes. He was mortified when he saw that he had a blue pacifier in his hand. “What the Hell!” he screamed in indignation as he threw it across the room trying to get it as far away from him as possible.   
Gibbs had heard Tony stir on the baby monitor and had started towards the guest room when he heard Tony’s scream and then had to dodge a pacifier that went flying past his head. ‘Guess he wasn’t happy about it’ Gibbs thought. “And good morning to you too’ he said as he walked into the room to see a rather angry looking Tony.  
“A pacifier Gibbs, really? What, my thumb in my mouth wasn’t humiliating enough?” Tony sheered.  
“No. Duck said that your thumb could push your teeth out and that a pacifier was the best option,” Gibbs explained patiently. He didn’t blame Tony for being upset but at the same time the boy had slept peacefully through the night so clearly the pacifier had helped. If something helped the kid calm down and get some actual sleep then he was not going to apologize for using it.  
“If my thumb was an issue then you should have removed it. You said that you didn’t mind, that I wasn’t in trouble” Tony’s eyes flashed with hurt bit it was quickly gone and his mask was in place.  
“I don’t mind that it’s a comfort and I encourage it but I don’t want you ruining your teeth either. The pacifier allows for your teeth either. The pacifier allows for both the comfort and teeth protection so it stays. And no you are not in trouble for it” Gibbs could see Tony was going to argue so he cut him off with a level glare and stated (more like ordered) “we are not discussing this any longer”  
Tony huffed at this. He did not like the pacifier and would not use it, or his thumb. He would rather have the nightmares but Gibbs didn’t need to know that, no, he’d drop it for now and deal with it later. He checked his mask (yay! pain killers are out of my system!) and looked up at Gibbs.  
Gibbs eyed Tony for a minute. He didn’t like the look on Tony’s face, he couldn’t read it, but he had a gut feeling that it meant that Tony wasn’t letting this go. Gibbs sighed internally and decided to move on for now it was just too early to get into this. “Dick took off your cast last night” he watched Tony look down at his arm confused “the one on your leg. He said that he had rushed a bit on reading the x-ray and it turns out that you injured the muscle and sprained your leg. You will have the brace for a week and then a walking boot. Good news is that you can get a bath now that you can put your leg in the water,” Gibbs said.  
“When can I shower?” Tony asked. A shower sounded really good right now the last time he bathed was two days ago.  
“You won’t be showering for a while, until all casts and braces and boots are off, but a bath is do-able as soon as I wrap your cast so it won’t get wet.” Gibbs answered as he gathered some clothes and then walked over to the bed.   
“I’d rather have a shower,” Tony said. As far as he could remember he’d never had a bath before so he wasn’t really sure how people actually got clean in a bath when they were lying in their own dirty water, plus it had to be freezing.  
“Nope, you can have a bath, that way you don’t have to stand.”  
“I can sit in the shower” Tony tried to reason although he knew it was a last ditch effort.  
Gibbs sighed, what was this about? “You can’t sit and shower and you know that”  
“But…” Tony started.  
“No” Gibbs cut him off “You are taking a bath. End of discussion”   
Tony sighed, he figured he had lost this one before it even started.  
Gibbs was relieved. This had been an easy fight but he didn’t know what had started it. He leaned down, picked up Tony and hipped him (placed him on his hip). Gibbs carried Tony into the bathroom and set his clothes on the counter. “Here, let me know when you’re done” he said and he stepped out.  
When Tony was finished he debated on just taking a shower but he didn’t want Gibbs to get mad and start keeping an eye on him in the bathroom that would be bad. Tony sighed, he’d have to take the bath and he knew it. Sitting down on the closed toilet seat he turned on the tap.  
Gibbs burst into the bathroom “What are you doing?” he yelled. He couldn’t believe Tony had tried to take a shower after he had already been explicitly told him not to.  
Tony jumped before quickly recovering. What had he done wrong now? “I’m starting a bath I was gonna call you when I was done like you asked” he said.  
Gibbs looked at him. What the hell? Why did the kid think he needed to do this alone? “I meant call me when you were done taking a leak so that I could start the bath and wrap your arm” Gibbs explained.  
“Oh…” Tony was confused, he tried not to let Gibbs know but from the look he received he could tell that his boss wasn’t fooled. “I can do it myself, you don’t need to stay”  
“Not gonna happen” Gibbs said. He reached down to check the temp and pulled his hand away quickly “That’s as cold as ice” he said.   
“Well, What should it be?” Tony asked. He had always taken cold showers, his father had insisted, said hot water was too expensive to be wasting it on Tony. Why would bath water be any different?  
“It should be warm Tony.” Gibbs said. Why did Tony think it should be cold? Unless… “Is this something you learned from your father?”  
Tony immediately stiffened “I have always taken, and enjoyed, cold showers” was the robotic answer given.  
Gibbs sighed, adjusted the water and set the plug. “O.K. lets wrap your arm up” he said coming over and pulling out the serane wrap.  
It took a few minutes but soon the bath was ready and Tony’s arm was wrapped. Gibbs then put down the serane wrap and started to take off Tony’s shirt. “What the hell are you doing?” Tony asked indignantly.  
“First off watch the language” Gibbs warned “and secondly, I’m helping you get undressed so that you can take a bath” Gibbs said as he finished getting Tony’s shirt off. He started on Tony’s brace but Tony yanked his foot away.  
“I can do it” Tony insisted.  
Gibbs knew he should let Tony get this out of his system so he moved aside. Tony struggled to get the brace off with only one hand (it had a pad tied around it so as not to painfully bump against his other leg) for about two minutes before he finally huffed, crossed his arms and pouted. Gibbs took this as Tony’s sign of surrender and quickly finished undressing him.  
Tony blushed bright red and turned to face the tub. He was trying to figure out the best way to brace himself as he hopped one footed into the tub. Just as he was about to brace himself and give it a go when Gibbs picked him up from behind and placed Tony in the tub.   
Tony braced himself for the freezing cold he was sure would come but he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was rather comfortable. He rested his casted arm on some towels that were conveniently placed on the side of the tub. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, leaned back and sighed contentedly. This was nice, comfortable, safe. He always felt safe in the water.  
Gibbs watched him for a few minutes amazed at how at peace Tony appeared. He looked so much younger when he relaxed. Gibbs didn’t want to wake him but he needed to get Tony bathed before the water got cold. “Alright let’s get you clean” he said.   
Tony blushed “Uh.. Yeah.. about that”  
“Just spit it out DiNozzo” Gibbs coaxed.  
“I’m not sure how to do this while, bath, thing” Tony said slightly embarrassed “I’ve never actually had one before”  
Gibbs paused. What kid had never had a bath before? “Well then, how about we start with the hair?” he said.  
“O.K. what do I do?”  
“You just tilt your head back and dose your eyes that cast will get in the way and you can’t use it anyway” Gibbs said as he filled a cup with water.  
“I can do it one handed’ Tony said.   
Gibbs pushed Tony’s chin up, thus tilting his head back, and poured the water over Tony’s hair. Then put shampoo on his hands.  
“Hey” Tony said reaching his hand to push Gibbs away.  
“Hold still, eyes shut” Gibbs ordered as he batted Tony’s hand away and then started to wash his hair.   
“Mrmm…” Tony mumbled in protest. Tony wanted to be mad at Gibbs but in truth it wasn’t so bad. No one had ever washed his hair before, it actually felt kind of nice. He held still and let Gibbs finish washing his hair.  
“O.K. hair’s done now I’ll get your back then let you do the rest alright”  
“Will you leave when I…”Tony asked embarrassed.  
“No, but I will turn around so long as you promise not to try to stand on your own”  
“Can I wash under water?”   
“Yeah just, be thorough”  
“O.K. then” Tony acquiesced. At least this way he got to do all the embarrassing parts.  
Gibbs nodded and got a washcloth ready. “Lean forward” he instructed.  
The bath finished quickly and Gibbs lifted Tony out of the tub and stood him on his left leg so he could dry himself. Once dried Tony sat on the toilet and slid his boxers and shorts on both legs before standing again. Gibbs had to help him pull up his pants and do them up because Tony couldn’t balance and lean over at the same time. Once his shorts were up Tony sat back down and pulled on his shirt.  
Gibbs knelt down with a jar and opened it “What’s that?” Tony asked eyeing it warily, he did not want pain meds and didn’t put it past Ducky to put them in a cram form.  
Gibbs looked up at Tony “It’s a cram to help heal the bruised muscle in your leg” he explained. Gibbs then generously applied the cream to Tony’s leg and then replaced the brace and outside padding. “All done” Gibbs said standing up ignoring how his knee popped.  
“Great think I’ll watch T.V. now’ Tony said.  
“Sure” Gibbs agreed, “after you’ve had breakfast”  
“Ahh…” Tony groaned.  
 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tony ate his breakfast with minimal fuss, he did not want Gibbs to feed him again. Tony was, however, ignoring the cup of juice sitting next to his antibiotic pull in front of him. He didn’t mind the pill so much as the juice. He knew what was in the juice and he didn’t want it, he had just regained control of himself and his emotions and he knew that things would be a lot easier if he could keep it that way.  
Gibbs looked over at Tony. He was pleased that the food was gone however the boy hadn’t touched his meds. And here the day was going so well. Gibbs tried to convince himself that this would be a simple fight but he knew it was wishful thinking. Tony hated painkillers they lowered his defenses and he didn’t like that. None the less Ducky said the pain meds had to be taken for a week, as in seven days, and this was only day two; yay. “Take your meds Tony” Gibbs said.  
Tony reached over and grabbed the pill. As he was pulling his arm back he ‘accidentally’ knocked the juice cup off of the table. “Oops” Tony said sardonically. He dry swallowed the pill then looked up at Gibbs with a remorseful expression.  
Gibbs didn’t buy the act one bit. He stood up, cleaned up the mess then made Tony a new cup of juice and pain meds screwing a lid on the top before placing it on the table. “No big deal” he said giving Tony a you-can’t-fool-me look “I’ll just be sure to put a lid on the cups from now on”  
Tony glanced at Gibbs briefly before glaring at the sippy-cup, crossing his arms and slouching back in his chair.  
Gibbs sighed internally; he was not in the mood for a fight. Making a decision he picked Tony up and placed him on his lap in what seems to have become the typical feeding position. “Now are you going to open or do I need to held your nose?” Gibbs asked as he held the cup to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony glared at Gibbs but quickly opened his mouth when he saw Gibbs’ free hand coming up to his face.   
Once Tony had finished the juice Gibbs carried him over to the chair that was still in the corner, facing out. “Thirty minutes in the corner” he said as he walked away to clean up breakfast.  
“So, this is what the corner is?” Tony asked.  
Gibbs turned to Tony and he could see the confusion on his face, the pain meds work fast. “Yep, that’s the corner” he confirmed.  
“Really, this is all it is?” Tony questioned. He wanted to be certain. “Promise?”  
‘Yeah this is all it is. I promise” Gibbs replied. He could visibly see Tony relax as he said this. Just one more topic to add to the conversation list, man that list was getting long. Gibbs had meant to talk to Tony yesterday after his map but the kid had really needed the sleep so Gibbs postponed.  
Tony relaxed after Gibbs promised that this was all being put in the corner was, his boss hadn’t broken a promise to him yet. It was nice to know that he wouldn’t have to keep on edge while sitting here, he had perfect view of all access points to him while he was sitting with his back to the corner, he was as safe here as he was anywhere else, that was good. It was also nice to have deciphered another one of Gibbs’ punishments. The restrictions didn’t sound pleasant (and he wasn’t happy with having to be carried because he lost his wheelchair) but at least his few personal possessions were safe and he wasn’t in danger. Now he had also learned what the corner punishment was and he was greatly calmed to know that rise was not involved in any way and also that he would be in no pain. The issue he was now faced with was that having to sit in the corner was incredibly boring.  
Tony wondered what this punishment was actually supposed to accomplish other than boring a person to death. He had previously tried to get Gibbs’ attention but the man had ignored him. This was stupid, and boring and he hated it. Why did he keep ending up here? Why, well, because Gibbs was a jerk that’s why. The man wouldn’t accept that Tony knew what his body needed better than Gibbs did. Tony knew when he was hungry and he ate then, so long as he had the time, it just wasn’t that often. Tony also knew how to deal with pain and he’d never had an injury that aspirin couldn’t fix, it was always able to dull the pain down to a manageable (or at least tolerable level). He preferred to stay in complete control over himself and pain meds didn’t allow that. Still though it seemed as though he was loosing the battle. No matter how he fought Gibbs’ reign he always lost and then he had to sit in this stupid chair bored out of his mind. Maybe he should just give in, none of Gibbs’ mandates were actually hurting him, but still it was the principal of the thing. He wasn’t a baby and didn’t want to be treated like one. He intended to tell his boss just that, as soon as he was allowed out of the corner. Man this sucked!  
Gibbs eventually looked up from his paper “O.K. times up” he said as he walked over.  
“The corner sucks” Tony said as Gibbs placed him on the couch.  
Gibbs chuckled; at least the corner was having the desired effect. “That is the idea of a punishment kiddo,” he said.  
Tony glared at him “I’m an adult and too old to be put in time-out. And while were on the subject I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and making my own decisions and I am also legally old enough to do so. I am tired of you treating me like a child and I am not going to stay here and let it continue” as he was talking his voice was steadily rising until he was practically screaming at the end. Tony was also flailing his arms and having, what Gibbs would call, a full out tantrum.  
Well this wasn’t how Gibbs had intended to start this conversation but since Tony lead into the topic he was willing to take the kid’s lead. “Alright I don’t mind having a conversation with you however you screaming and throwing a tantrum is going to get nothing accomplished. So either you calm down and we will discuss this civilly or you can sit in the corner until you are ready to do so. Which will it be?”  
Tony glared at him. He didn’t want to calm down, he didn’t think that he should have to be rational when Gibbs clearly didn’t however at the same time he did NOT want to be stuck in the corner again, ever. After a few minutes of internal debate Tony finally huffed, sat back and looked at Gibbs. “O.K. then lets talk”  
“Good.” Gibbs was glad that this wasn’t going to escalate he didn’t want to have to put Tony in a corner again. “Now I’ll start by answering your questions and then ask some of my own. You go after and we’ll go from there. How does that sound?”  
Tony thought about that. It did sound fair enough but he was a little nervous about what questions Gibbs would ask however once he got his answers he didn’t have to answer Gibbs’ questions. “Sounds fair,” he said.  
“Alright. To respond to your first statement you are never too old to be put in time-out if you have done something to deserve it. Secondly it is obvious to both Ducky and I that you are not able to take care of yourself and if you would like some reasons for our reasoning on that just look at the fact that you hid a concussion, bruised torso and sprained wrist for days. Or the sprained muscle and broken wrist for hours. Or how about the fact that you do not have any food or basic human necessities in your own apartment. Finally how about the fact that you are so grossly underweight that if it doesn’t start to go up soon then Ducky is going to insert a tube and feed you intravenously. Now as far as your age goes. I have some questions about that but to put it briefly, you act like a child I will treat you like one.” Gibbs paused here to take a breath. He could see Tony becoming agitated but cut him off before he could argue. “Now I have responded to all of your statements and I have some questions of my own. What did you originally think that being put in the corner meant? What did you mean when you told Ducky that you had received injuries that were ‘much worse’ than what you currently have? How old are you really and DON’T say 27? And lastly, what the heck is that little blue toy that you have?” There were other questions that he wanted to ask of course such as what did his father do to him? What were the scars from? Why had he never had a bath before? Etc. however his gut told him that if he were to ask Tony those questions, drugged or not, he would shut down in a heartbeat.  
Tony didn’t like where this seemed to be headed. What bothered him first was the answers Gibbs gave him so that’s what he started with “I don’t like the time-outs and I disagree with you about what constitutes one and since I am also an adult one adult opinion invalidates another”  
“You aren’t getting a say in the punishment you receive for breaking the rules. You are younger than me by quite a few years, young enough to be my own son actually, so my vote will over rule yours every time.”  
Tony huffed but from the look Gibbs gave it was time to move on. He wanted to fight Gibbs’ assumptions as far as his weight went or the state of his apartment, he only bought what he needed when he needed it and had the feeling that Gibbs wouldn’t accept how often that was or any of his typical answers seeing as he hasn’t so far. “I want to leave.”  
“You will be allowed to leave when you are 100% healthy, by Ducky’s standards, and have learned to take care of yourself and no sooner.” Gibbs said in a no-argument tone.  
Tony wanted to argue. He looked over at the chair that was still sitting in the kitchen and honestly debated as to whether telling Gibbs that he’s an idiot and to scream every curse word that he could think of at him in order to win the fight. Tony wanted to do all of those things however he had the bad feeling that if he were to do so he would be sitting in that evil chair for an hour.   
“We have discussed your inquiries now, it is your turn to answer mine.” Gibbs had seen the mutinous look cross Tony’s face and was happy to see that he had considered the consequences of his actions.  
Tony sighed. He knew that Gibbs would want answers and for some of the questions but there were those that he didn’t want to answer. Maybe he could skirt around them. “As far as the corner went I thought that it was, well, I didn’t really know what it was, I’d never been put in the corner before.”  
“Is that what scared you?”  
“I wasn’t scared” Tony argued. Gibbs gave him the you-can’t-fool-me look “I was just a bit … apprehensive.” He reasoned. “When I was talking to Ducky in autopsy I was trying to get out of there and back to my place. I would have said just about anything in order to achieve my goal.” There that wasn’t necessarily a lie.  
“Yes you would have said just about anything however that does not mean that what you did say wasn’t the truth so I will ask again. What did you mean when you told Ducky that you have received injuries that were ‘much worse’ than you currently have?”  
“I meant that I have received injuries in the past that were worse than these” Tony said snippily while raising both his injured arm and leg. “Which you can easily tell by looking at my file.”  
“Watch the attitude” Gibbs warned. He wanted to know more however he could tell that if he continued to push the issue that Tony would shut down and refuse to answer any more questions. “Next question”  
“My age is listed in my file” Tony stated.   
“No. I want your real age not the one in a file that you falsified.”  
“I falsified nothing”  
“Oh yes you did. I had Abby look into all of the information on your file and guess what. While all of the places that you listed as having worked were true the times were not. According to your file you worked as a cop for about six years however according to Abby you worked as a cop for only two and a half years.”  
Tony didn’t think Gibbs had known about that or that he ever would. He thought that he had hidden the facts well enough that no one would ever find them. “O.K. so I lied about three and a half years. That makes me…”  
“Don’t even try. Ducky already gave me an age that he said would only be off by no more than six months so don’t even try to lie or redirect or reword your answer so as not to give a real answer.” While that was not entirely true Ducky did give him an approximate age he just had no way of proving it but Tony didn’t need to know that.   
Tony eyed Gibbs trying to size him up and see if he was really telling the truth. He could find no signs in Gibbs’ appearance that he was lying but then Gibbs was harder to read than most. He sighed “Alright I am twenty-th…” Gibbs glared at him “twenty-on…” The glare didn’t let up “hmm… alright already, I’m twenty O.K. I’m only twenty but twenty is still a legal adult.”  
“Legally yes you are an adult however you are still just a child. You’re not even old enough to drink, you’re barely old enough to vote!”  
“So what, you gonna fire me now that you know?”  
“What?” why did Tony think that he was going to fire him because of his age? “I’m not going to fire you. You are legally old enough to work at NCIS.” Granted there would be some restrictions until he was a few years older but that was a discussion for a later time.  
“O.K. well, that’s good to know” Tony was quite for a moment. He was happy to know that he was about to loose his job. “Alright last question. The toy is Stitch”  
“What is a stitch?” Gibbs asked rather confused.  
“Stitch is not a what he’s a who and he is good” That was all the explanation Tony was giving.  
“What do you mean by good?”  
“I mean he’s good. What else?”  
“O.K. could you expand on that?”  
“No. Not really. How do you expand on good?”  
Gibbs sighed he clearly wasn’t getting anymore out of Tony for now. “Alright I’ll let that be for now.” Gibbs looked at his watch. They had been sitting there talking for quite a while and they had missed Tony’s first snack and it was time for lunch. “We missed your snack. It’s lunch time.” Gibbs stood up and lifted Tony taking him over to the table.   
Tony sighed. He didn’t want to eat lunch and more importantly he really didn’t want another dose of pain meds. “I’m not really hungry” he tried.  
“Tony this is not an option you know the rules.” Gibbs was not going to put up with this at every meal. Tony was getting one chance and then Gibbs was going to feed him. He walked over to the table with a sandwich, some chips, his juice and med mix and some pediasure (remembering to put both drinks in sealed sippy-cups of course).   
“Yeah but I’m really not hungry. I’ve eaten everything until now and I just can’t take anymore” Tony practically pleaded.  
Gibbs sighed. He had a feeling this was going to go badly. Tony was whiny because he was tired, he needed rest while heeling and while he may have gotten a good nights sleep last night that didn’t fix the issue of not having slept properly in who knows how long. “Fine the hard way it is then” Gibbs said. He lifted Tony up on his lap. “Maybe we should just start all meals like this. Things would go quicker. Open up” he said as he put a piece of sandwich on a fork and held it to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony pouted but knew better than to fight Gibbs it felt wrong when Gibbs clamped down on his nose. Once Tony had consumed everything, including the pain meds much to his chagrin, he was once again placed in the corner.  
“Thirty minutes” was the familiar call as Gibbs walked away.  
 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Gibbs came over and took Tony out of the corner after the thirty minutes were up. “Finally” Tony said. “I’m gonna go stir crazy if I have to sit there anymore.”  
“Well if you don’t want to sit in the corner so much then the best solution is to follow the rules” Gibbs said as he walked Tony up to the spare bathroom.   
“Very funny Boss” Tony quipped as he was set down.  
“Wasn’t a joke DiNozzo, you know the drill” Gibbs said as he walked out of the room.   
As Gibbs waited for Tony he was left with some time to think. He realized that he didn’t receive much of an answer when it came to Tony’s fear of the corner but when he put Tony’s answer together with Ducky’s reasons it all fit into place. Tony had been physically abused regularly as a child, evidence given by his back, nightmares, medical records, weight, and ability to hide pain. A constantly abused child easily makes a jumpy adult and when coupling that with a punishment and not being able to see any potential danger coming and terror is the only rational response. Letting Tony sit facing out from the corner still had the desired effect and the kid wasn’t having a panic attack a good compromise as far as Gibbs was concerned. Tony’s answers about his previous injuries were practically non-existent but Gibbs hadn’t expected much else. It was only natural for Tony to be protective about the worst part of his past. He’d let the topic drop for now but it was one that would be revisited once he had gained Tony’s trust, it would probably take some time though. Hearing Tony say his age allowed confirmed his suspicions but it didn’t change anything really, yes there would be some stricture control of the time he was allowed to spend in the field and at the office and others were bound to be more protective of the kid but otherwise there really was little difference. The one thing that really puzzled Gibbs was the answer to the simplest question that he had asked. What the hell was a stitch? Or, to be more precise, who is Stitch and what does Tony mean by saying that Stitch is good? Gibbs couldn’t believe that the simple little toy was causing him so much agony.  
“Boss” Tony called breaking Gibbs out of his train of thought.   
Gibbs walked over and picked Tony up. “Alright nap time kiddo,” he said as he walked Tony into the bedroom.  
“I don’t need a nap boss, I’m not tired” Tony argued as he lay down on the bed.  
“Well see” Gibbs replied as he tucked Tony in. He started to rub smooth circles on Tony’s back and wasn’t surprised to see the boy try to hide a yawn.  
Tony wanted to argue about being tucked in, again, but in truth it was actually kind of nice. No one had ever tucked him in before and he liked it when Gibbs did, that didn’t mean that he would ever tell Gibbs though lest his boss realizes it’s something he likes and stops. Nope he’d never tell Gibbs just like he’d never tell Gibbs that he liked it when his boss rubbed the circles on his back. It was warm and soothing and for some reason it made him feel safe. He didn’t know why he liked it but he did.   
Tony felt his eyes starting to droop, he was trying to fight going to sleep, at least until Gibbs left, because he didn’t want Gibbs to put a pacifier in his mouth and feared that in his sleep he just might accept it sense he apparently did last night. This was not a battle that he wanted to loose but he just couldn’t seem to stay awake. It was odd he’d never had trouble staying awake before; his personal record was eight days before he actually passed out in his apartment. Thankfully it was the weekend so no one ever found out. Tony wondered why he was so tired. The antibiotics and pain meds wouldn’t have caused this otherwise he would have gone to sleep after breakfast as well as now. He had slept well last night so he should be all right for a while. So why was he so tired now? He just didn’t know, but what he did know was that he was comfortable, warm and felt safe and that was a nice change from, well, every other time he had gone to sleep. Maybe that was why he was so willing to give into sleep? A low melody penetrated his thoughts. He couldn’t figure out what it was though. He didn’t remember ever having heard the song before but it was pleasant and…  
Gibbs could see Tony was fighting going to sleep he just wasn’t sure as to the reason why. He guessed that a lot of it was that Tony didn’t want to deal with the nightmares; they always seemed to drain the boy rather than help him rest. Gibbs also guessed that part of it was that Tony didn’t want the pacifier. He would have to make sure to remove it before Tony woke up but first he had to put it in. In trying to hurry tony to sleep Gibbs started to hum a lullaby that he used to sing to Kelly when she was little, it always put her right out maybe it would work on Tony too. Sure enough Gibbs watched as one of Tony’s hands came up to his mouth and the other closed around his Stitch.  
Gibbs leaned down to take the thumb out and replace it with the blue pacifier when he realized that now would be the perfect time to feed Tony a bottle seeing as how he missed the snack earlier. Tony wouldn’t remember and he also wouldn’t be shy a meal, perfect. Gibbs went down to the kitchen and started heating some milk. As he waited for the milk to warm up his phone rang. “Gibbs”  
“Jethro, the director wants to see you in his office today” Ducky said in a way of greeting. Ducky knew that Gibbs wasn’t one for small talk and it was best to just get to the point.  
“What does he want to see me for? He said alright to the vacation time and I have plenty to cover a good three months.” Gibbs asked.  
“I know that Jethro but that is actually the issue.”  
“How is that an issue?”  
“The director wants you to come in so that he can be sure that you’re still alive. You never take vacation time and he was concerned that you might be doing so by coercion. I assured him that you were taking it voluntarily but apparently your history of refusing to do so has him questioning. You need to come in and tell him yourself”  
“All right Duck but I need you to come watch Tony then. He should sleep the entire time I’m away but I just want to be sure”  
“No problem Jethro. I’ll be there in half and hour” and with that Ducky hung up.  
Gibbs sighed, he did not really want to go see the director but he didn’t have much choice unless he wanted the man looking for him. He filled a bottle with the warm milk and headed up to see Tony. At least he had time to feed the kid before he left.  
Gibbs walked into Tony’s room (funny how it has become Tony’s room already) and picked Tony up off the bed, careful not to disturb him. The boy still clutched his stitch doll and had his thumb in his mouth and had curled himself into Gibbs as they sat on the chair. He looked the picture of innocence and youth and Gibbs couldn’t help but smile. Gibbs got the thumb out of Tony’s mouth and quickly replaced it with the bottle. Tony latched on quickly and drank away. Gibbs couldn’t help but think that it was so much easier getting Tony to drink when he was asleep. Once the bottle was gone Gibbs placed the pacifier in Tony’s mouth and then put him back into bed.  
Ducky walked in right as Gibbs was tucking Tony back in. “I hope you don’t mind. I just let myself in.” he said.  
“Don’t mind at all Duck. You don’t have to sit in here with him you’re welcome to sit in the living room” Gibbs said as he led Ducky back downstairs.  
“Then how will I know if the lad wakes up?”   
“With this” Gibbs said as he handed Ducky the baby monitor.  
“That’s very clever Jethro. All right go and see the director everything will be fine here” Ducky said as he shooed Gibbs out the front door.  
Gibbs paused on the threshold “Hey Duck, you got any idea what a Stitch is?” he asked.  
“No I can’t say that I do. Why?”  
“Well that little blue thing that Tony sleeps with. I asked him what it was and he told me that it was Stitch but I don’t know what that is.”  
“I don’t know anything about a Stitch but perhaps you could ask Abigail while you’re at the office. She might know” Ducky suggested.  
“Alright yeah I’ll do that. Thanks Duck” Gibbs said as he walked out.  
“No problem Jethro” Ducky said as he closed the door.

 

Gibbs walked out of the Director’s office and down to Abby’s lab. Ducky had been telling the truth, the director had really thought that something had happened to Gibbs. Honestly Gibbs couldn’t blame the man after all he had been working there for twelve years and he had yet to take a single vacation day. Twelve years times two weeks a year equals six months of vacation that he had accrued so when he asked for an undisclosed amount of time off the director had been a bit concerned. Tony had been given time off due to medical reasons as well and that just heightened the directors concern seeing as Tony had been following in Gibbs’ footsteps and hadn’t taken vacation time off either. Eventually Director Morrow had realized that Gibbs and Tony really were taking time off of work because they wanted to, or in Tony’s case were forced to, and had readily accepted it. Apparently SECNAV had been on the Director about getting Gibbs to take a vacation, it didn’t look so good when someone hadn’t had a break in twelve years.  
Gibbs could hear Abby’s lab before he reached it. Abby always had music blaring, it was a wonder that she could still hear what with all of that noise. Gibbs walked in and turned the music down. Abby swung around ready to berate the music killer until she saw who it was. “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs” she squealed lunging at him and wrapping him in a hug. “Where have you been?” she asked once she had let him go.  
“I’ve been on vacation Abbs and so has DiNozzo”  
“Vacation? But you never take a vacation and neither does Tony. Why are you taking one now? Does this have something to do with Tony falling down the other day because really Gibbs that was my fault. I shouldn’t have tackled him so hard I should have know that it was a bad idea.” Abby rambled.  
“Abby, it wasn’t your fault that Tony fell it was his for not telling me that he was injured …” Gibbs was cut off by a frantic Abby.  
“INJURED! What do you mean injured? How bad is it? Where is he? What does he nee …”   
“Abby, Abby please. Tony is hurt but Ducky is keeping an eye on him and says that he’ll be fine so long as he is given the time to heal. He doesn’t need anything and he is someplace safe but he just needs to be left to heal alright.” Gibbs said trying to placate a clearly irritated Abby. “The two of us are taking vacation time so that I can help him and so that he can get better.”  
Abby still looked concerned but had she had calmed considerable. “O.K. so long as he is going to be alright and it is nothing life threatening I will let it be, for now. So since you are not working a case I take it that’s what you came down here to tell me or is there something that you needed?” she asked.  
“I need to ask you a question.”  
“Fire away bossman” Abby said settling down onto her stool.  
“Do you know anything about some animal called a stitch?” Gibbs asked hoping that Abby wouldn’t ask him a bunch of questions.  
“Stitch?” Abby asked confused. Then it hit her “Do you mean the little blue creature from the Disney Movie?”   
“Well it’s definitely blue but I know nothing about a movie” Gibbs said relieved to see that he might actually get some answers as to what this thing was and what Tony had meant by it being ‘good’.  
“Well Stitch is from the movie ‘Lilo and Stitch’. It’s an animated Disney Movie that came out a bit ago. I made Tony watch it with me not long after he first started working here. It’s a cute movie but I don’t think that Tony liked it much”   
“Why would you think that Tony didn’t like it?” Gibbs asked. Tony had obviously liked the movie enough to get a little stuffed Stitch so why did Abby think that he didn’t?  
“Well, he didn’t really talk during the movie like he usually does. Typically Tony keeps up a running commentary when we watch something but during ‘Lilo and Stitch’ Tony just sat and stared at the screen quietly. Almost as though he was lost in thought,” Abby explained.  
“O.K. thanks Abbs,” Gibbs said and with that he let her give him one more hug and left.  
On his way out to his car Gibbs picked up his phone and called Ducky. “Hello” Ducky said when he picked up.  
“Hey Duck how’s Tony?” Gibbs asked.  
“He’s doing just fine Jethro. Still asleep actually.”  
“Good. I’m done at headquarters. I’m gonna pick up a pizza on the way home. Any idea where I can find a Disney Movie by chance?” Gibbs asked. He wanted to see this movie for himself so that hopefully he could better understand why Stitch was apparently ‘good’. He was going to ask Abby but hadn’t wanted to get her curious and have her coming over pestering Tony about it.  
“Well you might want to try a children’s store they typically have both movies and things that go along with the movies. Also a Disney store would probably carry what you’re looking for and there is one just three doors down from the pizza place.” Ducky said.  
“Alright thanks Duck. Hey you want to stay for dinner. I got a few questions that I don’t want to discuss in front of the kid.” Gibbs asked.  
“That’s fine Jethro. I will see you soon.”   
“Yeah” Gibbs said and then hung up.  
Gibbs drove to the local pizza place and placed his order then he walked down the street to the Disney store that Ducky had mentioned. Sure enough the store had a copy of ‘Lilo and Stitch’ and the little blue creature on the front matched Tony’s toy so it had to be the right movie. Sitting next to the movie was a larger stuffed Stitch. It was about sixteen inches tall and much more appropriate for Tony seeing as how the one he had now fit into his hand. It would be easier for him to hold at night. There were many other Lilo and Stitch items such as action figures, coloring books, plates, utensils, sippy-cups and play sets. There were also a whole set of DVDs that went along to, what he assumed was, a show based off of the movie as well as other Lilo and Stitch movies. Those would be something to look into in the future if there proved to be anything beneficial to this Stitch thing. Gibbs bought both the movie, the Stitch sippy-cup (maybe if Tony liked the theme it wouldn’t be such a big fight to get him to drink from it) and the stuffed Stitch and then walked back over to the pizza place to pick up the food and head home. Once he had the food Gibbs started for home.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When Gibbs got home he brought the pizza, movie and Stitch into the living room and put them down on the coffee table. He held the stitch sippy-cup out to Ducky. “Mind washing this for me and fill it up with whatever drink you deem appropriate while I go get Tony?”   
Ducky took the cup and started walking towards the kitchen “Not at all Jethro”  
Gibbs walked up the stairs and into Tony’s room. Tony was still fast asleep sucking on the pacifier and holding onto the little Stitch. Gibbs smiled, the kid was so innocent when sleeping, if only that held true while he was awake then life would be good. He walked over to the bed and gently pulled the pacifier out of Tony’s mouth, the kid wouldn’t be happy if he woke up and found the pacifier again. Gibbs quickly slipped the pacifier into the nightstand while simultaneously stopping the thumb from making its way into Tony’s mouth. “Hey, Tony, time to get up buddy” Gibbs coaxed as he gently shook Tony’s shoulder.  
Tony came around to the smell of sawdust and something else that he couldn’t place but it was familiar and comforting. He smiled as he opened his eyes; this was a nice way to wake up. Tony woke up and looked around, Gibbs was sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at him. “Have a good nap?” he asked.  
Tony frowned at that. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep; his right hand shot up to his mouth and was relieved to find that there was nothing there. “DiNozzo’s do not take naps” he said, “we are not children.”  
Gibbs didn’t like that statement but let it go for now “I have pizza downstairs for dinner. Thought we could all sit in the living room eat and watch a movie. How does that sound?”  
Tony looked at him “The movie sounds good and I could go for a slice but who is we?”  
“Ducky is here. He came to see how you were and I invited him to stay for dinner.”  
“O.K. cool but I need to hit the head first” Gibbs nodded at Tony’s acceptance and carried him over to the bathroom.  
Ten minutes later Gibbs was placing Tony down on the couch in the living room. “Here you are lad” Ducky said as he entered and handed the stitch sippy-cup to Tony.  
“What’s th… Is that stitch?” Tony asked after having taken the cup.  
“Yeah I thought you’d like it” Gibbs said stepping over to the couch after having put the movie in the DVD player. “Now what kind of pizza do you prefer? I have a sausage and onion and I have a veggie.” Gibbs asked as he sat down on the couch next to Tony.  
“Uh, I like both so you choose.” Tony said glancing sideways over at Gibbs. “What movie are we watching?”  
Ducky plated a piece of each pizza and handed it over to Gibbs along with another sippy-cup filled with Tony’s pain meds and his antibiotic pill. “Make sure he takes these first Jethro.” Ducky said and Tony glared at him.  
“Leave him alone Tony you need these. Now we have a movie and pizza but I have no problem heating the food up in half an hour if you feel like trying to refuse the meds.” Gibbs said as he held out the juice and pill.  
Tony huffed and turned his glare on Gibbs. He wanted to say no and refuse the meds but he didn’t want to spend half an hour in the corner nor did he want to be fed or punished in front of Ducky. Tony also wanted to watch the movie and a slice of pizza did sound good, it was his favorite after all. He reached out and took the cup and pills and downed them quickly. “There happy?” he asked snippily.  
“Drop the attitude and yes” Gibbs said. He was happy that this hadn’t turned into a fight. He picked up the plate and handed it over to Tony “Eat up” he said as he also grabbed a plate and leaned back against the couch. “You ready Duck?” he asked. At Ducky’s nod of affirmation Gibbs turned on the movie.  
When the movie started Tony was shocked to see that it was his favorite. “This is…” he trailed off too awed to say anything.  
“Yeah, heard it was a good movie” Gibbs said with a crooked smile. He looked over at Tony when no response came only to see the boy staring fixedly at the TV while almost robotically eating the pizza. Gibbs looked over at Ducky “If I’d have known that he would eat so easily when put in front of the TV I would have done this sooner” he joked.  
“That isn’t a good habit to start. I also doubt that this is a reaction to every movie more likely it is just this one” Ducky chuckled.  
“Still” Gibbs said as he reached over and placed another slice of pizza on Tony’s plate. “If he’s eating”  
It took a little under ten minutes for Tony to finish the food, he didn’t even seem as if he knew what he was doing he was so wrapped up in the movie. When Tony was done eating Gibbs took his plate away and put the sippy-cup in his hand. Tony didn’t even think about it he just started drinking.   
Half an hour into the movie all plates were cleaned, the leftover pizza was put to the side and Tony had finished his drink and was still staring at the screen in awe. “Hm.” Ducky cleared his throat. Gibbs looked over at Ducky and quirked his eyebrow. “I need a moment if you would please pause the movie,” he asked.   
Gibbs nodded his head and put the movie on pause as Ducky stood up. As soon as the movie stopped Tony looked over at Gibbs “Hey what did you do that for?” he asked irritated.  
Gibbs chuckled “Ducky needed to hit the head” he explained. He looked over at Tony he was clutching the stitch sippy-cup close to him and it was empty. “Want more to drink?” he asked reaching over for the cup.   
Tony clutched the cup tighter. “I can get it” he said.  
Gibbs smiled slightly, so it was the cup. “Tell you what, you let me go and fill the cup and I’ll give you this” he said pulling out the sixteen inch stitch he had bought earlier.   
Tony’s eyes widened in surprise “Stitch” he exclaimed immediately reaching for it with his free hand.  
Gibbs handed the toy over and reached for the cup simultaneously. Tony pouted when the cup was taken from him but he clutched onto the stitch happily. “I’ll be right back” Gibbs said as he got up and went to the kitchen. ‘Maybe I should have bought more of these’ he thought because clearly Tony was attached to it, or anything stitch it seemed. Gibbs filled the cup and sat back onto the couch “Here” he said holding the cup out to Tony.  
Tony looked between the cup and the stitch toy seemingly debating on something. “I’d rather have the Stitch” he said eventually.  
Gibbs stopped, he hadn’t expected that but he should have he realized. “You can have both,” he said simply.  
Tony eyed him “both?” he asked.  
“Yeah kid both” Gibbs said but Tony still looked unsure. Gibbs didn’t know what would put him at ease, what had worked before? “I promise,” he stated.  
Tony gave a shy smile as he reached for the cup “Thanks” he said meekly. He looked down at the cup and frowned a little “Is the lid really necessary?” he asked going to unscrew it.  
Gibbs reached over, pulled Tony over to him and screwed the lid back on. He hadn’t wanted to remove the cup from Tony’s hands for fear that the boy might be afraid that he would was trying to take it back so soon. “All lids stay on remember,” he said.  
Tony sighed. He remembered he’d just been hoping that Gibbs hadn’t. “Yeah I remember,” he said.  
Ducky came back into the room at this point. “Sorry about the interruption. Shall we resume the movie?” he asked.  
“Yes!” Tony said immediately.   
Gibbs chuckled and hit play, pulling Tony closer to him. Tony started staring at the screen once again. He curled closer to Gibbs as he watched, half an hour later Gibbs looked down and saw Tony staring at the screen with the Stitch tucked under his left arm and his right arm holding stitch the sippy-cup up to his mouth fighting to keep his eyes open. There was liquid in the cup but he was too tired to hold it up high enough to actually get liquid out of it. Gibbs reached down and tilted the cup up higher for Tony.   
By the time the movie was over Tony had drifted off to sleep curled up next to Gibbs and sucking his thumb, stitch cup lying next to him on the floor. “I’ll be right back Duck” he said as he lifted Tony and carried him up the stairs. “Hey would you mind getting a bottle ready?” he asked.  
“Sure thing Jethro. I’ll bring it right up.”  
“Thanks Duck.”  
Gibbs took Tony up to his room and dressed him for bed. Ducky came up and handed Gibbs the bottle. Gibbs looked around but couldn’t spot the usual chair that he sat in; instead he saw a rocking chair in its place. “What’s this?” he asked.  
“I brought it in here earlier thinking it might be a tad more comfortable than the hard desk chair” Ducky explained.  
“That’s good thinking Duck but I could have helped you bring it in here”  
“It was no trouble Jethro. I’ll let you two be and meet you downstairs when you’re done”   
Gibbs nodded and sat down. He tilted Tony back and started rocking while pulling Tony’s thumb out of his mouth and placing the bottle in. Tony latched on quickly and started drinking. Gibbs smiled; this was just so easy when the kid was asleep. Once the bottle was empty Gibbs replaced it with the blue pacifier and just sat there rocking him for a little while he’d missed having someone to take care of like this it was nice. Kelly had always wanted to sit with her daddy and loved to be near him. She was his world and it killer him when she died. He’d shut down and refused to let anyone take her place, it was one of the reasons that he was closer to Tony than he was to Abby. Gibbs loved Abby but it always felt as though she might be some semblance of a replacement of the daughter that he’d lost. Tony could never replace Kelly, he was the son that Gibbs and Shannon had always wanted but never had. Tony would be the right age, Kelly was twelve when she was murdered and that was over twelve years ago, she would be about twenty-four or twenty-five about now. She would have been an excellent big sister. Tony wasn’t a fill-in for Kelly, no, he was the second child that had never come but was always desired.   
Yes Gibbs knew that Tony wasn’t really a small child but he certainly acted like one and he looking at him one couldn’t help but wonder. Tony was curled up into Gibbs sucking his pacifier and clutching the plush Stitch toy to his chest with both hands. Yep Tony looked and acted like a child. Gibbs had questions as to whether or not this was healthy, what they were doing, but that’s why he had asked Ducky over, to get his take on the subject.   
He sighed and tucked Tony into bed. Gibbs lightly kissed his forehead and then headed for the kitchen. Time to talk to Ducky.  
 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ducky was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea when Gibbs came over and joined him while holding a cup of coffee. “What is it that you wish to talk about Jethro?” Ducky inquired.  
“Tony” Gibbs said matter of factly.  
“Well yes Jethro, I had deduced that part out on my own. What is it that you want to ask me about Anthony.”  
“I have a lot of questions”  
“Just ask what you want to ask and I’ll do my best.”  
“Alright. One: are the bottles helping Tony when all that’s in them is milk? How is milk going to make him gain weight? Two: How long do you think it will take Tony to gain the weight that he needs? Will he ever? Three: How do we keep Tony healthy once he’s where he needs to be? Four: Why does Tony hide his intelligence from everyone and make think think that he is an idiot frat boy? Five: Is it healthy to keep treating Tony like a child? He’s twenty years old and yet we’re feeding him bottles, giving him pacifiers, carrying him around everywhere, I’m bathing him and dressing him is this healthy? And Six: What is with his obsession with Stitch?”  
“Well that is a lot of questions. I’ll start from the beginning and see what I can answer. Keep in mind I will never be certain on my answers but I will give you my best medical opinion. Alright?”  
“Alright”  
“O.K. lets get started. This may take a while.” Ducky said as he leaned back in his chair getting comfortable. “First: The bottles are helping Tony regardless of what is in them. They give his body something to consume while he is sleeping which is good for him since his body typically eats away at itself. If you are concerned that you need to put something in them you are welcome to do so. When you put him down for his nap a simple bottle of warm milk will be fine because he wont be asleep that long and he doesn’t need all of the nutrients to keep his body going. When you put him down to bed for the evening you can mix some of that formula into the warm milk it will give his body a bit more nutrients to consume while he’s sleeping.”  
“Second: I have no way of saying for certain if young Anthony will ever be able to gain all of the weight that he’s lost. If I had to guess it will take many months to get his weight up to passing for desk work and then even longer to get his body up to field work. His body burns calories at a rapid pace, faster than anyone else that I’ve seen, and he isn’t used to eating nor does he know how to recognize when he is hungry because his body has stopped telling him after being ignored for so long. I won’t let him back to work until he is one hundred pounds and he won’t be allowed to do field work until he is at least one ten to one twenty and holding steady for a month. If he ever drops below my set weight I will pull him from fieldwork for two months. He will be weighed every week from now on.”  
“Third: Once Anthony is healthy we will have to monitor how he is doing. He will receive weekly checkups from me as well as an examination any time he has an altercation in the field because he has already shown us that he won’t inform anyone of or seek assistance for any injuries that he may receive. Anthony won’t like it but I won’t sign off until he agrees. As far as his eating he will be down to three meals a day by that time but he will still probably need to be monitored. It wouldn’t hurt for him to have a nap once in a while and a bottle before he sleeps as often as possible. I don’t feel comfortable allowing him to live alone until I am one hundred percent certain that he will be able to take care of himself.”  
“How long will that be Duck?” Gibbs interrupted.  
Ducky sighed, “I don’t know Jethro but given what I’ve seen I would say at least eight months to a year if not longer. If at all possible I’d have him give up his apartment I can help move if necessary.”  
“Oh that won’t be necessary he hardly has anything in his apartment and very little of that is even worth saving. I’ll get him to give up his apartment but I want to get him out of the casts first.”  
“Alright.” Ducky agreed. “Fourth: I believe that Anthony hides behind the frat boy mask because it keeps people at arms length and allows him to protect himself from being hurt. Young Anthony isn’t one for allowing people to get too close in fact, as far as I’ve seen you are the only person who he allows to touch him or stand all that close to him without him tensing up.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Whenever I see Anthony with another agent he is always an arms distance away from them. He will get closer on his terms but if anyone tries to move closer to him he will either tense up or he will back away. If anyone touches him without his consent he will tense up or even flinch if it’s hard enough. Now you’d have to be paying extremely close attention and actually know the lad in order to notice these things because he hides it very well but he is uncomfortable with others in his personal space. Abigail and myself appear to be an exception however I have never seen Anthony return Abigail’s hugs and if I come at him from behind or too quickly then he will flinch away from me. You on the other hand can do whatever you like and he doesn’t react, that shows an extreme level of trust. He hides himself from others because he doesn’t trust them not to hurt him emotionally or physically.”  
“Five: I believe that while Anthony might not like being treated like a child it is necessary”  
“Explain that”  
“Anthony didn’t get to have a childhood in fact he wasn’t even allowed to be a toddler and that has some damaging effects on a person. There is a reason why one goes through childhood and is not just born as a fully prepared adult. The knowledge and experiences one gains over the course of their youth are important into shaping a healthy adult both physically and mentally. Anthony needs to experience those experiences as well, he needs to also feel safe knowing that he is loved and being cared for which are two things that he has never had.”  
“So how long will it take for Tony to what, redo his childhood?”  
“A person goes through their life at slightly different paces but for the most part a childhood is the same length for all people. It will take Anthony longer because he can’t just drop everything and be a kid he also can’t do all of the things that children do it would look strange for a full grown adult and he has to be an adult a lot of the time especially at work. However when he has time to relax and enjoy I would encourage it. At the moment I would say that Anthony has the emotional maturity of a two year old, two and a half at most and it will probably take two to three years to get him past that but it is something that we need to do”  
“How do we do that Duck?”  
“I would say that you know exactly what you’re doing already the lad looked quite content from what I saw this evening” Ducky smiled. “Alright last question. Sixth: I can only speculate as to why Anthony is so intrigued with this Stitch. I would guess that Anthony somehow identifies with the creature but it is anyone’s guess as to how. When he watches Stitch he sees something similar in himself and it makes him feel better. His explanation as to why he likes Stitch was that Stitch was ‘good’ and from what I saw on the movie that would probably mean exactly what he said. The little girl did everything she could to break Stitch of his bad habits and to turn him into a good person. While Stitch did not become perfect it does take responsibility for what it does wrong and then tries to correct. Stitch found a family and a good life after a terrible start. If I were a betting man I would say that Anthony looks at Stitch as a possibility of a better future. He already identifies with the little blue creature and to see it have everything that he wants it is a sign of hope to the lad. If an alien can have it all then why can’t Anthony?” Ducky sighed and leaned back that was the last of the questions.  
“Now is there anything else that is weighing on your mind?” Ducky asked.  
“No that was all I wanted to know at the moment thanks Duck.” Gibbs said.  
“Alright Jethro then I will bid you goodnight. You can call me again anytime you have a question and if not I will be back again in three days to check n him.” Ducky said as he stood up to leave.  
“Night Duck. See you soon.” Gibbs said as he walked Duck to the door.   
Once Ducky was gone Gibbs headed upstairs and laid in bed. He stayed up for many hours thinking over the conversation that he had just had. He sure had a lot of things to think about and he still had to take care of a sick agent. Time for bed.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The next morning found Gibbs sitting in Tony’s room watching him. Gibbs had been there for about ten minutes, he knew that he needed to wake Tony up and get the day started but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The boy looked so peaceful laying there holding both stitch toys (the sixteen inch and the little one) to him and sucking on the pacifier. Gibbs signed and walked over to the bed, it was time to start the day.   
Gibbs took the pacifier out of Tony’s mouth and started to rub his back and gently wake him. Tony groaned and rolled over not wanting to get up. Gibbs chuckled and pulled back the covers. “Come on sleepyhead it’s time for breakfast” he said as he picked Tony up and carried him downstairs leaving little stitch on the bed.  
Gibbs set Tony down at the table and got the two plates of eggs off of the counter. When Gibbs turned back to the table where he saw Tony sitting there with his head laying on the table, Stitch clutched between his left arm and his chest, right hand clutching the stitch sippy-cup that had been placed on the table for breakfast and staring at Gibbs sleepily. Gibbs sighed, well at least drinking wouldn’t be a problem. He put both plates at the table next to the cups then picked Tony up and placed him on his lap but Gibbs didn’t pin Tony down like he usually did.   
“I didn’t refuse, I can’t be in trouble” Tony said waking up some.  
“Never said you did” Gibbs said putting some egg on a fork and bringing it up to Tony’s mouth “Here, open”  
Tony looked at the fork confused. If he wasn’t in trouble then why was Gibbs feeding him? He turned his head to face Gibbs “I can do it” he said.  
“O.K. here’ Gibbs said offering Tony the handle of the fork.  
Tony looked at the handle and then down at his hands. His right hand had his stitch cup and his left hand was in a cast, which was holding his Stitch. He didn’t want to put either down and he couldn’t hold the fork in his cast. Toy tried to move his cup into his left hand but the cast was uncooperative and he ended up dropping it. Tony’s face screwed up in irritation and he reached out to grab the cup almost falling off of Gibbs’ lap.  
“Whoa there” Gibbs said as he readjusted Tony on his lap, grabbed the cup off the floor and handed it back to Tony. Tony grabbed the cup instantly. “Now you either need to put down the cup or open your mouth” Gibbs said once again bringing the fork up to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony debated with himself. He didn’t like being fed; it was embarrassing however he didn’t want to put the cup down what if he lost it again? Would he be allowed to have it back if it went away again? Gibbs had promised he could keep the toy stitch but he had not said anything about giving him the cup only letting him hold it at the time would that still hold or would Gibbs take it away if he put it down? As much as he disliked being fed he really didn’t want to loose the cup so he begrudgingly opened his mouth. Gibbs chuckled; the boy really was obsessed with the little stitch character.  
Once breakfast and meds had all been consumed Gibbs set Tony down on the couch. “So do you want to read or watch some T.V.?” he asked.  
“I don’t have any books” Tony said.  
“No problem I brought some from your apartment or you can borrow one of mine” Gibbs said reaching down to take the stitch cup and fill it up.  
Tony clutched the cup closer to him and looked over at the bookcase by the far wall “Can I read one of those?” he asked.  
Gibbs followed Tony’s eyes and walked over to the bookcase “Sure any particular one in mind?”  
“No I’ll read anything”  
“Alright then” Gibbs said grabbing a book at random from the bottom half. The bookcase was something he had kept from Shannon and Kelly. Kelly had always loved to be like daddy so when daddy read she wanted to as well. Gibbs had filled the bottom half of the bookcase with children’s books for her. Those books would be perfect for Tony now. “Here” Gibbs said holding the book out for the boy who had turned himself so that his legs were now on the couch making the perfect place for a book.  
Tony placed his cup between his legs before reaching out to take the book “Thanks” he said.   
When Tony took the book Gibbs reached down and removed the cup. Tony frowned at this but said nothing as he looked at the book he’d been handed. The book was titled James and the Giant Peach, on the cover was the picture of a peach on the spike of the empire state building. Tony had never read anything by Roald Dahl before but he had never been picky about what he read either.   
When he was little he hated going to sleep knowing that nightmares awaited him. He had originally tried watching T.V. but the noise got him in trouble, which caused pain so he stopped. Reading had probed to be the next best option. Books were quiet and kept his mind busy, which kept him awake and the nightmares at bay, the only catch was that there wasn’t a single children’s book in the house. The storybooks available to the four-year-old were of topics that were fay beyond him so instead he started with the dictionary it at least explained everything. Once he’d finished the dictionary he’d started with every volume of the world book and then he hopped around from there. He’d rarely, if ever, read something just for fun. This would be a new experience for him.  
Tony eventually broke out of his own thoughts when the stitch cup was placed in front of his face. He grabbed the cup back quickly and clutched it to him then looked up at Gibbs.  
“You gonna read that yourself or you want me to read it too you?” Gibbs offered.  
“You would read it to me?” Tony asked confused.  
“Of course” Gibbs said as he scooted Tony over so that Tony was sitting leaning back on Gibbs.  
“But why?” Tony asked. No one had ever read to him before.  
“Because I want to” Gibbs said softly as he took the book from Tony, wrapped his arm around him and kissed the top of his head. “Ready?” Gibbs asked.  
Tony looked up at Gibbs. Why was he doing this? No one had ever read to him, hell no one had ever touched him kindly before. His father hadn’t even touched him when he was being punished, preferring to use a cane or a belt or a riding crop or some other item that kept his son at arms length and yet still caused a good deal of pain. Gibbs though had brought him close and was offering to read him a story just because he wanted to. “What’s in it for you?” he asked skeptically. It was the only explanation he could think of.  
Gibbs paused. What the hell had been done to this kid to make him so cynical to think that no one actually did anything for him just because they wanted to? “Nothing is in it for me I just want to do this for you now hush and listen” he said.  
Tony still wasn’t sure but Gibbs had already opened the book and was starting to read. He sat stiffly at first but as the story went on he started to relax until he was totally leaning into Gibbs and engulfed in the story not noticing what was going on around him. He was extremely comfortable and didn’t want to be moved but after a couple of hours Gibbs shut the book and started to get up. Tony immediately reached out and grabbed Gibbs’ shirt trying to stop him. When he saw what he had done he blushed and let go. “Sorry boss” he said embarrassed.  
“Nothing to be sorry for. You were enjoying yourself and I’m sorry we have to stop but it’s time for a snack.”   
“C..C..Can we read some more after?” Tony asked shyly.  
“We can continue to read after your bath. How’s that sound?”  
“Promise?”   
“Promise” Gibbs said. He stood up and then carried Tony over to the table. Tony ate his snack no problem, he wanted to get right back to the story and he didn’t want to have to spend thirty minutes being bored before he could do so.   
Once Tony was done eating Gibbs carried him up to the bathroom started to run a bath then turned and left the room to both give Tony some privacy and get clean clothes from his room. Tony’s arm was wrapped and then he got undressed and Gibbs placed him in the tub. The bath went similar to the last with the exception that Tony fought against nothing still desiring to get back to the story. Gibbs lifted him out of the tub at the end and helped him dry off and dress and then rubbed the cream on Tony’s leg and replaced the brace. “Can we read now?” Tony asked as soon as the brace was on.  
Gibbs laughed, “Yeah we can read now, let’s go get settled.” Gibbs said as he lifted Tony up and carried him downstairs settled him back on the couch and went to fill up the stitch cup. “Hey” Tony cried when Gibbs started to leave.   
Gibbs turned around and faced the kid “I’m just filling up your cup then I’ll be right back”  
“My cup?” he said questioningly. Did that mean he would be able to keep it?  
“Yeah your cup. It’s empty so I’m filling it and then we’ll start” Gibbs said as he walked into the kitchen.  
Gibbs came back into the living room a few minutes later carrying a now full sippy-cup for Tony and a cup of coffee for himself. He handed the cup to Tony and then they returned to their original positions. Tony was surprised with himself when they’d first started he hadn’t felt comfortable leaning against Gibbs but now it just felt natural. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. He could get used to this.   
 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Gibbs turned the page and locked down at his watch. He was shocked to see that they had been reading for so long. “What’s wrong?” Tony asked when Gibbs didn’t resume reading.  
“Time for lunch” Gibbs stated standing up and grabbing Tony.  
Tony groaned. He wasn’t hungry and had been quite comfortable where he was. “Is that really necessary?” he asked.  
“Yes! Eating is always necessary” Gibbs stated.  
“Can we read again after?” he asked although he had a feeling he knew the answer.  
“No after lunch is your nap” Gibbs said as he placed Tony in a chair, grabbed his stitch cup and went to prepare lunch. “Here” Gibbs said as he placed a blue sippy-cup in front of Tony.  
Toy glared at the cup he knew what was in it and had was opening his mouth to turn it down when Gibbs put the lip of the cup in. Gibbs held Tony’s arm down until all of the pain meds and juice were gone.  
Gibbs ruffled Tony’s hair as he walked back to the counter to finish lunch. Tony slumped back into his chair holding Stitch to himself and pouting. He hadn’t wanted the pain meds and he hated that Gibbs hadn’t given him a choice. “I can’t be put in the corner for that. I didn’t refuse” Tony said. It was the truth. While yes that had been his plan he hadn’t been given the chance to do so.  
“I know” Gibbs said he placed the plates on the table. Gibbs sighed internally at the petulant look on Tony’s face and here the day had been going so well. Gibbs sat down and started eating; he looked over at Tony, the kid looked like a pouting toddler. It was clear that Tony wasn’t going to eat willingly; he was too tired to do so. Guess that’s why a schedule was so important. They were eating lunch late typically Tony would be asleep by now.  
Making a decision Gibbs finished his lunch and then put Tony on his lap like he had that morning. He brought the fork with the piece of sandwich up and handed it out to Tony. “You gonna feed yourself or do I need to?” he asked.  
Tony shot Gibbs a petulant look but took the fork and stated eating. He ate about half of the sandwich but he was full and he didn’t feel like eating. He set the fork down and tried to get off of Gibbs’ lap.  
“Nope, you’re not done yet” Gibbs said wrapping his arm around Tony’s waste to stop him from trying to get up.   
“I’m full” Tony whined.  
“Duck said that you need to eat all of the food that you’re given so,” Gibbs said as he picked up the fork and brought a new piece of sandwich to Tony’s mouth “eat up”  
Tony glared at Gibbs and shook his head no. He wasn’t hungry and he was feeling tired, not that he’d ever admit it.   
“This isn’t an option Tony” Gibbs said moving the fork closer to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony once again emphatically shook his head no. He didn’t want to eat and Gibbs wasn’t going to make him. He was determined to see to it that Gibbs knew he wasn’t going to do something if he didn’t want to do it. Yeah Gibbs would learn Tony thought as he tried to suppress a yawn. Unfortunately for Tony he was unable to stop his yawn and as soon as his mouth was open Gibbs put the food into it.   
“You will be spending time in the corner after your nap” Gibbs said. He typically put Tony in the corner after the meal but the kid just looked so tired that Gibbs didn’t have the heart. “Now open” Gibbs said as he pinned Tony and brought the fork back up to his mouth.   
Once Tony was done eating Gibbs carried him up to the bathroom and then to his bed. “I thought I had to go to the corner?” Tony asked confused.  
“I said after your nap you were going to the corner,” Gibbs said  
“Why?”  
“Because you’re tired,” Gibbs explained.  
“But what does that have to do with postponing punishment?” Tony asked. His father had never waited to punish him just because he was injured or hurt in any way so why should Gibbs wait to punish him just because he was tired?  
“Because it would be cruel and you need your rest” Gibbs said. He laid Tony down on the bed, handed him little stitch, tucked him in and started rubbing his back. “Rest now”  
“I’m not tired boss” Tony slurred as his eyes shut.   
It didn’t take long for Tony’s breathing to even out. Once Tony was asleep Gibbs went downstairs to fix Tony a bottle. When Gibbs came back up he saw Tony twisting around on the bed and mumbling in his sleep. It was obvious that Tony was having a nightmare and Gibbs felt bad for not having remembered to put the pacifier in before leaving the room. Tony hadn’t had a nightmare since that first night and Gibbs attributed that to the pacifier.  
Gibbs went over to the bed and started rubbing his back and trying to sooth him. Eventually Tony calmed down and Gibbs placed the nipple of the bottle up to his lips. He wasn’t surprised when Tony latched on immediately and drank greedily, he needed the comfort after the scare and it calmed him. After the bottle was completed Gibbs placed the pacifier in and sat down in the rocker watching him incase the nightmares started again.  
Gibbs watched Tony while he slept and he waited out his nap. After an hour and a half Gibbs walked over and took the pacifier out of Tony’s mouth and woke him up. Tony came around and looked up at Gibbs, “Do I have to sit in the corner now?” he asked.   
“Yeah kid you owe me thirty minutes” Gibbs confirmed.  
“I’d rather go back to sleep” Tony said rolling over away from Gibbs.  
Gibbs chuckled and scooped Tony up. “Sorry bud doesn’t work that way” He carried Tony downstairs and placed him in the corner chair saying the familiar “thirty minutes” as he walked away.  
Tony sighed. He hated the corner and wished that he was back in bed. There was nothing to do in the corner but to sit and think. He still didn’t understand why Gibbs had waited until after his na…, rest, before putting him here. Sure he had been tired, though he loathed to admit it, he had honestly been ready to fall asleep sitting of Gibbs’ lap. But why did that mean that his punishment was postponed? His father wouldn’t have waited just because he was tied, no, he would have been punished anyway. If he’d have fallen asleep he would have just been punished worse. Not that he could sleep during one of his father’s punishments; unconsciousness maybe but sleep never.  
Thinking of his father’s punishments brought about some other worries. His father popped by about once every two months to ‘visit’ with his son and Tony was always soar for days, sometimes weeks, afterwards. He had never told Gibbs and didn’t plan on doing so anytime soon. Gibbs had seen the occasional bruise that he hadn’t been able to hide but he had explained them away as some sport injury or another, it amazing how that line still worked.  
The last time his father visited him had been about a week and a half to two weeks ago meaning that Tony had about six weeks until his father would come back. Tony wondered how he would see his father without Gibbs finding out. It wasn’t that Tony actually wanted to see his father, in truth he’d rather never see the man again but that wasn’t an option. DiNozzo Senior was a powerful man and if he wanted to see his son then that’s what he would do, Tony had learned that the hard way in Peoria. The pain Tony had been in after his father had tracked him down and dragged him back to the lime (while Tony had been on a case no less) had almost killed him. Tony hadn’t been able to leave his apartment for two weeks afterwards. He had moved to Pittsburgh a month later. No, avoiding his father was not an option but neither was telling Gibbs. Maybe he’d be back at his own place by the time his father was due back. For some reason he doubted it. The way Gibbs was acting Tony doubted he would be let out from under his watchful eye anytime soon let alone be allowed to move back to his place. And it was obvious that Gibbs wasn’t gonna dismiss any more bruises that he might happen to see. What was he gonna do?  
Gibbs came back into the kitchen to get Tony’s snack ready and saw Tony lost in thought. The kid looked tense as though his thoughts were painful and unpleasant. He had his stitch clutched tight to his chest and he looked almost scared at moments. As Gibbs passed by the chair he reached out and ruffled Tony’s hair. The effect on Tony was instantaneous, he really was a very tactile person, touch went a long way. Tony’s painful expression dropped, replaced by a look of shock then calm as he looked up at Gibbs.  
Tony sighed as Gibbs walked over to the counter. He was grateful to Gibbs for pulling him out of his thoughts but at the same time he wanted up. This was a stupid punishment. He shouldn’t have to be here. It was all because Gibbs was being a pain about him not wanting to finish his lunch. It was stupid it wasn’t like there was much left. He was stuck in the corner for refusing to eat three measly bites, how stupid was that. He had to spend thirty minutes bored because he refused to eat three bites of food. Maybe refusing hadn’t been the best idea.  
Gibbs put the lid on the cup and walked over to Tony. “Times up” he said.   
Tony flashed Gibbs a look of relief he hated the corner. “Can we read now?” he asked.  
“I thought we could play a board game” Gibbs replied. He picked Tony up, placed the cup on the table, and carried Tony over to the hall closet. Gibbs had put all of the board games and some of Kelly’s favorite toys in here a while back. It had been too painful to look at but at the same time he hadn’t been able to get rid of them. He was sure Kelly wouldn’t mind sharing with Tony. The toys were all dolls and other girl items but the board games were gender neutral so that’s what he went for.   
Gibbs pulled the box out of the closet and set Tony down on the floor before crouching down himself. Tony reached into the box in awe “Who owned all of these?” he asked.  
“My daughter” Gibbs replied. He wasn’t stupid he knew that Tony had done his own background check on Gibbs before joining NCIS and that would have undoubtedly led to the discovery of his first family. Gibbs had never confirmed that Tony knew but the look Tony gave him did.   
“She was really lucky to have so many toys” Tony commented.  
“Oh, she had many more than this these were just her favorites” Gibbs said  
“More!” Tony said amazed “How many more could she possibly need?”  
“She had as many as any other child” Gibbs said confused. He figured Tony must have had a ton of toys growing up after all what better way to keep a kid occupied than to send them off to their room to play.  
“I’ve never seen so many toys in one place before” Tony said.  
“Didn’t you have toys when you were little?” Gibbs asked.  
Tony paused. He really shouldn’t have brought this up. It was stupid of him his mouth was working faster than his brain and he seemed to have little sensor over what he said. Pain meds at their best he assumed.   
“Tony?” Gibbs questioned.  
Tony sighed. He knew that tone. Gibbs wasn’t going to let this drop. “My father didn’t want a child he wanted a tiny adult and since toys were for children I wasn’t allowed to have any” he looked over at Gibbs and could see that his boss hadn’t like the answer.  
“So you never had toys when you were little? Not even one?” Gibbs asked. Why had DiNozzo Senior been so against children? What was wrong with letting his only son have a little fun once in a while?  
“I have little stitch” Tony said “And you gave me this stitch” he said holding the stuffed toy up. “I like them. Isn’t that enough?” he asked.  
Gibbs sighed. “You shouldn’t have had to wait until you were twenty to have a toy Tony” Gibbs said as he brought his hand up and squeezed the back of Tony’s neck affectionately. Tony leaned into the touch. “Now how about we pick a game and play for a little while” Gibbs said a moment later.  
“O.K. what one do you want to play?” Tony asked  
“Doesn’t matter. You pick.” Gibbs said  
“Really?” Tony asked.   
Tony looked like a child who had just been told that Christmas was coming early. It broke Gibbs’ heart to see that something so small as being allowed to choose the game was such a big deal. “Yep, whatever you want”  
“O.K. then I choose…” Tony looked over all of the games taking his time. Eventually he held up a game “this one”.  
“Battleship it is” Gibbs said. He put the box back into the closet and picked Tony and the game up carrying them both to the table.  
The game went smoothly and they had time to play three rounds before it was time for dinner. Tony ate everything without a fuss; he didn’t want to end up in the corner again so soon. After dinner Gibbs cleaned up and then he and Tony went into the living room.  
“How about a movie before bed?” Gibbs asked. He knew that Tony liked movies and it would be a good way to relax.  
“Sure” Tony said “You pick since I got to pick the board game”  
Gibbs nodded at that. It was reasonable. He looked through his slim collection of videos. Most of them were children’s videos from Kelly. It was amazing how he kept finding her things around when he hadn’t even noticed them in so long. Guess he really didn’t clean anything out. He pulled out Pinocchio figuring that since Tony liked one Disney movie he might like another. “You ever seen this?” Gibbs asked holding the movie out for Tony to see.  
“No” Tony answered shaking his head in the negative.  
“All right Pinocchio it is then” Gibbs said. He popped the movie into the VCR and pressed play.  
It was an older movie and the previews included a couple of trailers and then a little commercial for Disney World. It was a simple commercial about two brothers one telling the other all the fun little facts about going there. It ended with a shot of the main Disney characters standing in front of the castle waving. When it was over Tony looked at Gibbs. “What’s Disney World?” he asked.   
“It’s like Disneyland but bigger” Gibbs explained.  
“Oh” Tony said and turned back to the T.V. a few moments later he looked back over at Gibbs “What’s Disneyland?” he asked.  
Gibbs paused the movie and looked at Tony. The kid looked serious, he really didn’t know what Disneyland was. Didn’t all kids know that? “It’s an amusement park created by Walt Disney. The park is themed based on the different Disney movies” he explained.  
“What movies?” Tony asked  
“The different Disney movies that have come out over the years”   
“Are they a series of movies?”  
“No Tony they’re just a bunch of movies made by the same company but about different topics. Didn’t you ever watch a Disney movie growing up?”  
“Are they kids movies?”  
“Yeah”  
“Then no. No kids movies allowed in the house” Tony stated simply.  
Gibbs sighed internally. He should have expected this after all Tony had made it quite clean that DiNozzo Senior hadn’t let Tony be a child so why should he have been allowed to watch childish movies? But wouldn’t Tony have heard about these things in school at the very least? “Didn’t your classmates ever talk about any of these things?” he asked.  
“I was homeschooled until my father disowned me at twelve and sent me to military school. There was no talking about home at military school.” Tony explained.  
“Well what about your friends? Did they ever talk to you about Disney things?”  
“Never had any” Tony stated simply. “Are we going to watch the movie?” he asked wanting to avoid any more questions.  
“Yeah, yeah were going to watch it” Gibbs said as he pushed play.  
The previews ended and tinker bell came out waving her wand and flying over the castle as she does in ever Disney movie. “Is this a Disney movie?” Tony asked.  
“Yeah” Gibbs said  
“Is Lilo and Stitch a Disney movie?” Tony asked  
“Yep”  
“O.K. well then Disney can’t be all bad if it made Stitch” was Tony’s only reply as he sank down into the couch looking for a comfortable spot.  
The movie lasted for about an hour and a half. When it was over Gibbs carried Tony upstairs and got him into bed. “It’s only eight” Tony whined.  
“It’s time for bed”  
“But rule 8 says that bedtime is 10 not 8”   
“It also says that bedtime can change due to an illness and being in a brace and a cast qualifies as an illness” Gibbs said as he started to rub Tony’s back. The motion always seemed to lull the boy to sleep quickly and it had become a habit by this point.  
“But I’m not tied” Tony said as he yawned.  
“Hush now” Gibbs said.  
Despite his protests Tony was asleep in minutes. Gibbs put the pacifier in, not wanting Tony to have another nightmare, and then headed downstairs to fix the milk and formula bottle that Ducky had suggested for a bedtime snack. When the bottle was ready Gibbs went upstairs and picked Tony up off the bed and sat in the rocker with Tony sideways on his lap. He pulled the blue pacifier out and placed the nipple of the bottle in. Gibbs started rocking the chair back and forth and humming softly as Tony drank. When the bottle was done he placed the pacifier back into Tony’s mouth and then sat there with the boy on his lap. Tony laid there sucking on the pacifier and holding both little stitch and stitch to him, one per hand/arm, he looked completely innocent and Gibbs found himself wishing that Tony never had to go back to being an adult again but he knew that it had to happen eventually. This little world they had here was nice but at some point they would have to step back into reality where he was Tony’s boss and Tony was his Senior Field Agent. But for right now this was nice and even after they returned to the world there would still be moments like this. Ducky had said it was important for Tony to have some type of a childhood and that is what he would get it would just be interspersed between his shifts. None the less that was a little while off. Both he and Tony had no less than three months vacation time to spend healing.  
Tony fidgeted in his sleep and Gibbs put him back into bed. He kissed Tony’s forehead before heading down to work on his boat, making sure to bring the baby monitor with him lest Tony need him. Gibbs went to bed a few hours later preparing for the next day and the ones after.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The rest of the week went by relatively calmly. Gibbs kept Tony to a schedule and found that it made him calmer. Giving the pain meds to Tony at the prescribed intervals seemed to keep the kid relaxed and unguarded. An unguarded Tony led to a lot of surprising revelations about his past. Tony never gave away anything on purpose but during casual conversation over board games or questions that come up while reading or watching a movie all lead to new information.   
So far Gibbs had pieced together that Tony hadn’t been allowed a childhood of any kind. He had also learned that Tony was confused about some of the simplest things such as why the boy James hadn’t been made to go back home with his aunts at the end of James and the Giant Peach. Turns out that the cops had looked into previous accusations made by former, and no longer in the country, employees and that Senior had always been able to talk and charm his way out of any possible wrongdoing and as soon as the cops left Tony would end up being beaten so bad that he would actually need a doctor.   
Gibbs learned that Tony had paid his own way through college because Senior hadn’t liked his choice in professions. Apparently there weren’t many jobs for a fourteen-year-old boy to get legally so while the scholarships covered classes and books Tony had been required to pay for a place to live, school supplies, food, and clothing. Surprisingly Tony was rarely able to find steady work that would keep him fed and a roof over his head. Tony admitted that he made enough to rent some sleaze bag apartment, the kind of places that don’t mind renting places to minors. He also had enough to pay for his school needs however the food was another matter, apparently dumpster diving had been on his menu for a little over a year.   
With all of the new revelations Gibbs had grown to despise DiNozzo Senior and love Tony more and more. It was amazing what the kid had been through and Gibbs knew that he had barely scratched the surface. It made him sick.   
Ducky had come by to check on Tony during the week. Tony had passed the checkup and Ducky said that he would be back at the end of the week to take the brace away and give Tony the walking boot. He had given Tony the boot yesterday, which was the same day that Tony had been removed from his painkillers. Ducky said it would take about a day for them to clear out of Tony’s system. Tony was completely compatible yesterday however today was day nine of Tony living in his house. Today was the first day that Tony was able to walk and completely off of the effects of pain meds. Yeah, this was going to be a long day.

 

Tony woke up before Gibbs came to get him. He laid there feigning sleep while taking the time to think through his future plans for freedom. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to be clearheaded for once. It was the first time in weeks that he had full control over his emotions and it was nice.   
Tony remembered what all had been said and done over the past week and he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. He had told Gibbs so much more than he had ever wanted to tell anyone and he couldn’t stop himself from what he did and that annoyed him. He hated not having control over what he did, he had been an idiot and acting like a complete child, no worse, he had been acting like a toddler. He wasn’t a toddler and he had no intention of continuing the way he was going now that he could stop himself. It was time to show Gibbs that he was a grownup and that he was to be treated as such.  
He heard Gibbs come into the room and walk over and stop to the bed. He felt Gibbs’ hand on his face stroking his hair back. It was nice, no one had ever done that before and he couldn’t seem to keep himself from leaning into the gentle gesture. Gibbs’ hand stopped and then Tony felt something being pulled out of his mouth, what was that?   
Tony opened his eyes then and looked down at what Gibbs had in his hand. It was that stupid little blue pacifier that he had thrown out the door that second morning. “What the hell!” Tony exclaimed as he backed away from Gibbs on the bed. “I said I didn’t want a pacifier!”  
Gibbs sighed, this was the perfect way to start the morning. “As I told you before Ducky says it will help and it has been therefore the pacifier stays” Gibbs stated.  
“No! It does not stay! I am not a toddler and I will not be treated like one!”   
“This is not up for debate. It helps so it stays end of discussion” Gibbs said. With that he picked Tony up and started carrying him downstairs.   
“This is not over!” Tony said indignantly “And put me down! I have a walking boot now I don’t need to be carried anymore”  
“Your boots downstairs. I’ll put it on after your bath” Gibbs said calmly completely ignoring the pacifier issue for the time being.  
“I don’t need a bath and I want it on now,” Tony said while continuing to try and remove himself from Gibbs’ grasp.  
“You will get it on after your bath which will be right after breakfast” Gibbs said “barring any corner time of course, now stop squirming”   
Tony paused. He didn’t want to spend time in the corner he guessed that it would be worse than it was when he was on the pain meds. Still he had no intention of continuing to follow all of Gibbs’ orders.  
Gibbs placed him at the kitchen table and grabbed the plate of eggs. Gibbs had eaten before he had woken Tony and it seemed that it was the best idea seeing that Tony was not in the most cooperative this morning. Gibbs placed the plate in front of Tony along with his antibiotic pill and his stitch sippy-cup.   
“I don’t need the sippy-cup I can drink from a regular one” Tony said calmly.  
Gibbs looked at him. The kid was acting differently this morning. He had become used to Tony slouching in his chair, eagerly grabbing his sippy-cup, carrying around the plush Stitch toy and almost clinging to Gibbs but now. Now Tony was sitting there with his back straight, refusing his favorite cup, there was no stitch toy in sight and he was pushing himself away from Gibbs. The pain meds were out of his system and the walls were going back up. “This is your favorite cup” Gibbs reasoned.  
“It’s a child’s cup and I am not a child”  
“You lost the right to have a lidless cup when you pushed your meds off of the table and all over the floor” Gibbs said as he pushed the cup closer to Tony.  
“That cup had pain meds in it and I had informed you that I didn’t want pain meds just like I am currently informing you that I will not drink from a sippy-cup” Tony stated simply.  
“If you remember correctly you still had to take those pain meds and then you spent thirty minutes in the corner. You are not allowed a lid without a cup and you will be drinking from the sippy-cup whether you want to or not. This is your favorite cup and I am not continuing with this argument so eat.” Gibbs said and then stood up and started doing the dishes.  
“This is not over. I am an adult and I will decide what I will and will not eat and what I will and will not drink from. I am can now wear a walking boot and am capable of moving around on my own so I don’t need to stay here any longer. I am going to find my boot and then I’m going home.” Tony said as he stood up and started walking towards the stairs.  
Gibbs hurried over to Tony and beat him to the stairs. “You’re not going anywhere and you are still going to stay here.” He said as he picked Tony up and carried him back over to the table trapping Tony on his lap. “You are not allowed to move out until Ducky says you are 100% and you know how to stay that way. You have been told this before. Now you are going to eat and then you owe me an hour in the corner”  
Tony was squirming trying to get away “Let me go! I’m not hungry and I’m not going to sit in that stupid corner”  
“Open” Gibbs said as he brought the spoon up to Tony’s mouth.  
Tony shook his head no as he continued to struggle. He was going to show Gibbs that he would not be going along with this any longer.  
Gibbs brought his spare hand up and closed Tony’s nose. Tony struggled but eventually lost the fight and had to open his mouth allowing Gibbs to feed him. “There that wasn’t so hard was it?” Gibbs asked. He reloaded the spoon and brought it back up to Tony’s mouth “Do I need to clamp your nose shut again or will you just open?” he asked.  
Tony glared at Gibbs. He felt helpless and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like feeling as though he wasn’t in control because it was the way his father made him feel. It scared him. He was scared but he would never show it and thankfully the pain meds were gone and he could once again show any mask he wanted. Right now his mask was that of defiance which wasn’t all that hard to pull off.  
“Fine” Gibbs said. He once again closed Tony’s nose until his mouth opened. This continued until half the food was gone and Tony had taken a couple of drinks and his antibiotics. “Now I’ll ask again. Do I need to clamp your nose shut again or will you open your mouth?”  
Tony looked down. He didn’t like this, he didn’t like not being in control but it appeared that while in this position he had no choice. Begrudgingly he opened his mouth and accepted the food.   
“Good boy” Gibbs praised.  
The compliment made Tony feel happy and that scared him. He didn’t want Gibbs to mean something to him and yet that seems to be how he felt. He had hoped that it was just the meds tricking him but it seemed that it wasn’t. None the less it was something that he could suppress and if you suppressed it long enough it would go away. Right?  
Tony was broken from his musings when Gibbs picked him up and placed him in the corner. “One hour” he stated as he started to go back to the dishes.  
“An hour” Tony cried, “It’s thirty minutes not an hour and I’m not sitting here.” He started to stand up and walk away but Gibbs stopped him.   
Gibbs picked him up and placed him back in the corner. “It is an hour because it is two transgressions. Half an hour for refusing to consume breakfast and half an hour for going against doctor’s orders and walking on your leg without your boot on. You are sitting here and if you try to get up again you will be grounded to your room for the rest of the day.” Gibbs walked away after that leaving Tony to sit in the corner.  
Tony paused. He wanted to get up but he didn’t want to be grounded. It wasn’t being stuck in the bedroom that mad him nervous, the room was lighted and large, not at all claustrophobic. No the nervousness came from what always comes before the grounding, the pain. He had yet to receive a punishment from Gibbs that involved pain but he knew that one was coming. Everyone had some type of punishment involving pain. His father did, the drill instructors at military school did, the fraternity did (joined out of necessity in his final semester to have a place to stay since his apartment was being demolished) the police academy did and every single police station that he had ever been in before did. It was just a matter of time until he learned what Gibbs would do but he was willing to sit in this chair for an hour if it meant avoiding getting the answer right now. Tony sighed and sat back in his chair resolving himself to his fate.   
Gibbs looked over and didn’t know whether to be relived that Tony was accepting the punishment or concerned that the kid looked so closed off. They had definitely taken a step backwards here. Or was it that they had never really made any progress, that the pain meds were really what had allowed them to become so close (almost like father and son). Gibbs wondered which was closer to the real Anthony DiNozzo? He needed to call Ducky but it would have to wait until he could talk to Ducky without an audience. He would call him and set it up during Tony’s nap.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Tony’s excruciatingly long hour was finally up and Gibbs came over and carried him upstairs. Tony was so happy to be out of the corner that he didn’t even complain about Gibbs carrying him. Gibbs set him in the bathroom and started the water then left him alone to go get some clothes, the boot, and the cream for Tony’s muscle.  
Tony was used to this scene however he was not enjoying the idea that Gibbs would probably try to help bathe him. He had allowed it before because he was out of it on pain meds however he was in full control of his faculties now and he had no desire to let this habit continue. Once he was done using the restroom he started to wrap his arm himself. It was harder than he thought it would be, usually he just put a bag around it and then held it out of the shower.   
Another change Tony was going to be making was this bath thing. He wanted to take a shower so that’s what he was going to do. He turned off the tap and let the water drain out. He was about to start the shower when Gibbs walked in.  
“What are you doing?” Gibbs asked calmly. He had expected something like this given how adamant Tony had been on taking a shower before his first bath and the boy had been on pain meds then. Now that Tony was off the meds he was even more determined to take a shower and he wasn’t going to like that he still wasn’t able to do so.  
“I’m taking a shower,” Tony said simply.  
“You can’t take a shower until your leg is better” Gibbs explained.  
“Ducky said I can walk on it”  
“No. He said you can use the walking boot not that you can just go about walking on it whenever you want and you know that.”  
“I can handle a shower”  
“No” was all Gibbs said to that. He put Tony back onto the top of the toilet seat and then once again started the bath. He pulled his hand away quickly when he felt the temperature of the water. “I thought we’d talked about not using cold water when bathing” he said.  
“No, you said that baths are supposed to be warm. I don’t need a warm shower because I won’t be in there long enough for warm water to be worth the expense of using it” Tony said matter of factly.  
“All right. Well now I’m telling you that showers are also supposed to be warm regardless of the amount of time spent in them. The water bill is no different when the water is cold or when it is warm while you bathe” Gibbs said patiently. He didn’t blame Tony for this and he wasn’t going to be mad at Tony for what his father had beat into him. Still it didn’t mean that he would allow Tony to continue to believe all of the lies that he was told growing up.   
Tony sighed “Sure boss” he said in his best agreeable voice and put on a nice little mask. Gibbs typically sees through his masks and he knows that he’s not had the best practice at fooling people lately but it was still worth a try. He had no intention of listening to his boss but he wasn’t about to tell Gibbs that.   
Gibbs finished filling the tub while Tony got undressed and stood facing the tub and started taking small hops on his good leg. “What are you doing?” Gibbs asked him.  
“I’m getting ready to get in the tub” Tony explained.  
Gibbs didn’t give a response but rather picked Tony up and put him in the tub as he had done everyday since this had started. Gibbs went about the typical bath time routine that they had fallen into, he put shampoo on his hand and started reaching for Tony’s hair.  
Tony shifted away from Gibbs “What are you doing?” he asked.  
“Washing your hair since you still have a cast on your hand” Gibbs explained as he used his free hand to pull Tony over to him and hold him there and started to wash his hair with his other hand.  
“I can do it with my other hand” Tony said as he continued his struggles to get away. He wasn’t going to get Gibbs to stop though his struggles were weak and he knew it. He wasn’t thrilled with Gibbs washing his hair but it was somewhat familiar by now and it was nice and comforting and he didn’t want away as bad as he should.  
“Almost done” Gibbs said as he let go of Tony’s arm and finished with his hair. “Here lean back” he said as he picked up the water cup and started to rinse Tony’s hair out.  
Tony did as he was told and let Gibbs finish with his back and then hand over the washcloth. Tony finished his bath and then Gibbs helped to get him out. After getting dressed Gibbs put the ointment on Tony’s leg and then the walking boot. As soon as the boot was on Tony’s leg he stood up and started walking around relishing in the freedom of it.  
“Now take it easy with that” Gibbs warned “Ducky said that you can start with the boot but that doesn’t mean you should be trying to run marathons understand?”  
“Got it boss” Tony said smiling. He walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs to the living room.   
Gibbs cleaned up the bathroom, slipped by Tony’s bedroom to pick something up and then headed downstairs to find his agent. Tony was sitting on the couch holding the current book that he and Gibbs had been reading, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. He looked to be debating with himself about something and Gibbs had a good idea as to what the issue was. Before heading over to the boy Gibbs popped by the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee and Tony his favorite cup of juice.   
“Here” Gibbs said as he took the book out of Tony’s hands and replaced it with the sixteen inch plush stitch and the stitch sippy-cup.   
“Hey” Tony said as he looked down at what Gibbs brought him and reached for the book.  
“Time to read” Gibbs said simply as he ignored Tony’s protest, sat down on the couch and pulled Tony over to him as he usually did when they were reading together. It was something that Tony had always enjoyed and Gibbs doubted that he disliked it. Tony had fought against getting his hair washed at first but he had eventually relaxed and let Gibbs wash his hair. He had enjoyed it because it was a loving gesture that he hadn’t received as a kid. The reading was no different and neither was the cup or the toy. Tony found comfort in all of these things and that wasn’t going to change just because he was off of his pain meds. The meds had lowered his ability to hide but they hadn’t changed what he wanted or needed so those desires had to still be there Tony was just fighting them, a lovely bi-product of his raising yet one more reason to have DiNozzo Senior.  
Tony struggled at first but he quickly settled down once Gibbs started reading aloud thus confirming Gibbs’ suspicions that he really did need this. As Gibbs continued to read Tony started to nestle into Gibbs and drink his juice. He was relaxing and letting himself feel safe it was a good thing.   
Gibbs was enjoying having Tony near and finally calm that he just continued to read. He lost track of the time and before he knew it they had missed Tony’s snack and Tony had fallen asleep leaning against him. Gibbs stopped reading then and picked Tony up. He walked to the kitchen and prepared a bottle for Tony before carrying him up to his bedroom.   
Once Gibbs got Tony upstairs he settled him down on his lap in the rocking chair and started to feed him the bottle. Tony accepted it as he had all the others and Gibbs was happy to see that it wasn’t just a side effect of the pain meds but that Tony really did know, at least subconsciously, that he needed them. After the bottle was finished Gibbs put the pacifier in and put Tony to bed. He called Ducky to come over and then went to the kitchen to make a pot of tea and a cup of coffee and wait.  
 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Ducky arrived about half an hour later and came directly into the kitchen. Gibbs handed him a cup of tea and then sat down at the table across from him. “What can I do for you Jethro?” Ducky asked.  
“I have a few questions for you” Gibbs explained.  
“Alright. Lets hear them”  
“One: Now that Tony is off the pain meds he seems to be trying to act more his age again and I need to know if I should encourage this or if I should encourage him to act like a child. Two: Tony is now able to control his emotions and he has become more closed off. Is this who he really is and the meds were hiding it or is he hiding and the Tony on the pain meds his true identity? And Three: How long does he need to be in the walking boot and cast?” It was a smaller list than the last time the two men had talked but they were all still important questions.  
Ducky took a few minutes to collect his thoughts before responding to Gibbs’ questions. “First: Anthony is acting more his age now because he has the ability to control himself better. He has always been capable of acting his age he just doesn’t always want to even if it is subconsciously. You need to know that no matter how Anthony acts he still needs to have some semblance of a childhood. Let me ask you, how have you been handling him today?’  
“I’ve treated him like I have been treating him all week”  
“And how has Anthony responded?”  
“He fought me tooth and nail over breakfast because he didn’t want to use his sippy-cup and he was determined to walk away and take care of himself now that he no longer has the brace. I had to feed him breakfast and then he spent an hour in the corner. He fought against that at first but then he calmed down. He tried to take a shower instead of a bath. He still thinks that he needs to take freezing showers because hot water is too expensive, I tried to tell him otherwise and he pretended to listen to me but he was acting then. Once I got him into the bath he fought against having his hair washed but after I’d started he relaxed. After his bath he went down to the living room and I found him staring at the book we’d been reading. I took the book and gave him his stitch and cup and moved him against me and started reading like we have been. He fought at first but quickly stopped and enjoyed the story. He fell asleep on the couch and I fed him a bottle and put him down for his nap. Oh and he dislikes the pacifier. Should I be keeping with that or let him go without it?”  
“Well it seems as though Anthony has answered the first question for you” Ducky said smiling.  
“He has answered none of my questions Duck” Gibbs said. If Tony had answered them he wouldn’t have called Ducky.  
“He didn’t willingly accept the childlike attitude that you have displayed towards him but once you showed that you weren’t going to back down the lad stopped fighting and allowed himself some of the small pleasures of childhood. Keep up what you are doing. Anthony doesn’t have to be at work yet and this will do him good. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly he will stop fighting you if you stick to the routine. And yes that includes the pacifier. If you stop using it he will either start having nightmares again and never sleep or he will start using his thumb again and wind up needing braces because he’s pushed his teeth out” Ducky explained wisely.  
Gibbs was happy to hear that he was doing the right thing with Tony however he wasn’t too keen on fighting with the boy over the pacifier. “Any ideas as to how to get him to accept the pacifier Duck?”  
Ducky chuckled “I’m afraid not Jethro. Maybe while you’re reading or watching T.V. you can encourage him to use it but I would hold off on that until he is better. For now just make sure that you put it in after he is asleep and take it out before he wakes up and deal with the arguments in-between if they occur.”  
“Alright.”  
“Second: I believe that the pain meds lowered Anthony’s walls but they didn’t change who he really is. What you saw while Anthony was on the meds was the real Anthony DiNozzo however the real Anthony DiNozzo is also a young man who is very shy and guarded with himself. He was taught at a young age that he could never trust people and he locked himself away behind countless walls and forts in his own mind. The meds destroyed those walls in minutes. Now that the meds are gone the walls are up and it is your job to destroy them permenately but that will take time, a lot of time. Because of the past week you have a head start. Anthony has become used to your presence and is willing to accept some level of comfort from you it will just be when he isn’t realizing it for now. This is going to take time but it is well worth it.”  
“So Tony is a little boy at heart but he keeps it guarded. For what reason?”  
“Most likely so that he wouldn’t be hurt by anyone and everyone he meets. He locked away who he was to protect himself lots of people do it just typically not at such a young age.” Ducky explained.  
“I’ll do my best Duck but I do miss the Tony that showed himself last week” Gibbs said. He smiled as he remembered some of the things they had done together. Gibbs hadn’t thought it so funny when Tony splashed him in the tub at first but soon the two of them had the whole bathroom floor wet with water from Tony trying to splash Gibbs who was kneeling outside the tub and Gibbs trying to stop him both laughing. Also there were all the times that Tony would curl up against him to read. One time that stood out was when Tony was confused as to why the worm started wriggling around just because he was bing tickled, turns out Tony had never been tickled. Gibbs soon fixed that issue and the two of them spent a good ten minutes writhing around on the couch tickling each other and laughing hysterically. Yes an unguarded Tony had been a lot of fun.   
“You’ll get there Jethro” Ducky comforted. He could imagine that his friend was having a difficult time with the sudden change. Gibbs had already lost one child, Tony had been a welcome remembrance of being a father and now Tony was trying to break away, unsuccessful though his attempts are. “Now Third: Anthony’s tests shows that he is healing rather nicely. Much quicker than I would have originally anticipated. He should be out of the walking boot in two weeks time and the cast on his arm a week after that. Also his latest weight shows a marked improvement he was at 70 nine days ago and now he is at 76 pounds. Now obviously he will not gain six pounds every week since he will now be more mobile. He has 24 more pounds to go before coming back to work. I would like him to try and gain roughly 3-4 pounds a week.” Ducky explained. “Now are there any other questions?”   
“No Duck that’s it,” Gibbs said then paused, “Would you mind coming by tomorrow and watching him though I have a few things I need to do and I can’t take Tony with me”  
“Certainly Jethro” Ducky agreed “Might I ask what it is that you need to accomplish?”   
“ I need to talk to the Director about Tony’s age and see what restrictions will be placed on him because of that. I want to talk to Abby about going with Tony and I on a trip in a few weeks and I want to stop at the Disney Story and pick up some things” Gibbs said as he rattled off the list.   
“A trip to where Jethro?’ Ducky asked curious.  
“Once Tony’s cast is off I thought that he Abby and I, and you as well if you’d like, could all take a trip down to Disney World” Gibbs explained.  
“Ah that would be a nice idea” Ducky agreed.  
“Yeah and having Abby there also getting excited and acting like a child will help Tony to lighten up and enjoy himself a bit” Gibbs said.  
“That’s a brilliant idea Jethro. What time do you need me to come by in the morning?”  
“Well I want to feed Tony breakfast before you show since that seems to be the hardest meal of the day so how about 09:00” Gibbs suggested.  
“That sounds fine. I’ll see you then” Ducky agreed and with that he headed out the door and back to work.  
Gibbs sat in the kitchen a while longer thinking over the discussion that he had just had with Ducky. It wasn’t going to be easy but he was determined to get Tony to trust him and to help the boy heal both physically and mentally.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Tony woke up to Gibbs rubbing his back gently. It was actually nice, a comforting feeling. He scolded himself there, he was not supposed to be felling better with Gibbs around he was supposed to be ignoring Gibbs. He opened his eyes and looked up at Gibbs.  
“Time to get up kiddo” Gibbs said standing up from the bed and getting the leg cream.   
“What time is it?” Tony asked. He was a bit disoriented the last thing he remembered was sitting on the couch listening to Gibbs read to him. That was something he needed to stop as well.  
“It’s… 1430” Gibbs said. He finished applying the cream to Tony’s leg and put the boot on him. “Alright there is a drink for you in the kitchen you need to drink and then the rest of the afternoon is yours until supper” Gibbs said.  
Tony nodded his head. “Uh… how did I get here?” he asked.  
“You fell asleep on the couch and I carried you up here” Gibbs explained.  
“Oh, Uh, Thanks” Tony said.  
Gibbs nodded and headed out the door. “Don’t forget your drink” he called.  
Tony sighed and fell back on his bed. How was he going to deal with everything? He didn’t want to be at Gibbs’ for a reason, he felt safe with Gibbs, letting Gibbs take care of things as though he were a child and Gibbs the parent. His own father had never taken care of him and now here Gibbs was doing just that. He really needed to get out of here but he also knew that Gibbs wouldn’t let him get three feet out the door.  
“Tony, drink” Gibbs called from the bottom of the stairs.  
Tony huffed but got out of the bed and headed down to the kitchen. He needed time to make a plan to get out of here and he can’t do that if Gibbs keeps constant watch on him. The best plan right now is to go along with the boss until he finds the chance to leave. Once he was home Gibbs surely wouldn’t drag him back here. Would he?  
Tony walked into the kitchen and slumped down at the table. He picked up the cup and started to unscrew the lid. He really didn’t want to drink from a sippy-cup even if it was a stitch cup.   
“Ahh” Gibbs scolded. He took the cup from Tony, tightened the lid and put it up to Tony’s mouth. “Drink” he said.  
Tony glared at Gibbs but he didn’t want to go back in the chair so he begrudgingly opened his mouth, crossed his arms and allowed Gibbs to feed him the drink.  
When the drink was gone Tony shot out of the chair and went into the living room to watch T.V. There were many benefits to watching T.V. such as not having to talk and not having to actually pay attention because it was something that he had watched multiple times before and could recite from memory. Watching T.V. allowed him to sit and think without Gibbs becoming suspicious. 

The rest of the day went smoothly. Tony ate supper without issue and then they both sat and watched a movie until Gibbs made him go up to bed. “Go get ready and I’ll be up in a few minutes” Gibbs said.  
Tony nodded and headed up and Gibbs went into the kitchen to prepare a bottle for the kid. Gibbs gave it ten minutes before heading up to Tony’s room. He left the bottle outside the door and headed in. Tony turned his head to look at Gibbs when he entered. “I thought you’d be asleep” Gibbs said.   
Tony just shrugged one shoulder and continued to watch Gibbs. He didn’t want to go to sleep. He didn’t want the dreams to come back and he knew that he’d had plenty of sleep over the course of the week so there was no real need to sleep now.   
Gibbs walked over to the bed and started to rub Tony’s back. “What are you doing?” Tony questioned.  
“Shh” Gibbs said as he continued to rub smooth circles on Tony’s back. After a couple of minutes Tony still hadn’t fallen asleep however he was doing a good job at pretending. Gibbs started to hum softly and after a few more minutes Tony actually fell asleep.   
Once Tony was out Gibbs got the bottle and fed Tony then placed the pacifier in his mouth and the stitches in his hands.  
Gibbs went down to the basement for a few hours and then hit the sack. Gibbs had been asleep for a few hours before he heard the screaming, it was a blood curdling, scared out of your mind, terrified scream and it was coming from Tony’s room. Gibbs leapt out of the bed and ran to Tony’s room. The boy was thrashing about on the bed and crying out with tears running down his face.   
“Tony! Tony! Wake up!” Gibbs called as he ran over to the bed. He grabbed Tony’s hands to stop him from hitting out and then started to call his name.   
Eventually Tony woke up. He bolted up to a sitting position and started looking around as though he was scared of the shadows. Gibbs looked in his eyes; he could see that Tony was awake but not actually aware of his surroundings. He continued to study Tony trying to figure out what was wrong but was stopped when he heard quiet whimpers “Hey, hey” he soothed as he started to stroke Tony’s back.   
Tony looked at Gibbs with big eyes and lunged at him wrapping his arms around Gibbs’ neck and refusing to let go. Gibbs was stunned for a minute and then he felt wet tears on his neck and Tony’s whole body shaking as it was wrapped with sobs. “I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry” Tony repeated.  
“What are you sorry for?” Gibbs asked. This was obviously something to do with his nightmare but he didn’t know what.  
“I’m sorry I never should have interrupted your meeting I just didn’t know what else to do. She was bleeding so badly and there was no one around I was just trying to get her some help. I’m so sorry” Tony said and then started repeating the earlier mantra of I’m sorry.  
“Who was bleeding buddy?” Gibbs asked as he patted Tony’s back trying to calm him down.  
“Mom” Tony answered in such a small voice that Gibbs had to wonder if he wasn’t holding a toddler. “I’m sorry” Tony started again.  
Gibbs held Tony tighter. From what he had just heard he could guess that Tony found his mother lying in her own blood, most likely dead, and he went searching for help coming upon his father first and interrupting a business meeting. Gibbs knew that Tony was six when his mother died. That was a hell of a thing for a six year old to walk into and from what he knew of DiNozzo Senior it wasn’t hard to figure what had happened to Tony not long after.   
“Lets go” Gibbs said picking Tony up.  
“Go where?” Tony asked getting scared and clinging to Gibbs tighter.  
“To my room bud” Gibbs answered carrying Tony to his room and getting them settled into the bed. “Sleep now kiddo, you’re safe here”  
“Promise?” Tony asked.  
“Promise” Gibbs said.  
It didn’t take long until Tony was once again asleep only this time in a nice peaceful slumber. Tony let go of Gibbs’ neck but then curled himself into Gibbs and used his chest as a pillow. Gibbs smiled, he remembered when Kelly used to come barging in on he and Shannon in the middle of the night when she’d had a bad dream. She would climb right up in-between the two of them and snuggle up next to him. This seemed so familiar granted Kelly’s nightmares had been more mundane than seeing your dead mother and then being beaten by your father but still it was nice to be able to comfort a child again. He’d missed it.  
Gibbs fell asleep shortly after and they both had a restful night.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Gibbs woke up to Tony curled up next to him holding his two stitch toys. When Gibbs went to move Tony whimpered and clung to his shirt. So the kid really was a kid regardless of how he acted. Gibbs gave a small smile and then decided that it would be best to get Tony up so that he could see that Tony ate breakfast and got a bath before Ducky came over. Hopefully Gibbs could get all of the hard parts done before he had to leave.   
Gibbs picked Tony up and carried him downstairs while waking him up at the same time. He didn’t want to make the kid nervous by waking him up in a different bed or an unfamiliar room so he thought that the walk to the kitchen would be better.   
Tony stirred and looked around “Where am I?” he asked.  
“The kitchen” Gibbs answered putting him down in a chair at the table. “Hold still for a few minutes while I fix breakfast” Gibbs said.  
“Right” Tony said. He was still a bit groggy from waking up. He blearily remembered Gibbs trying to wake him in his bed but he clearly didn’t respond. Guess that’s why Gibbs carried him into the kitchen while he was half asleep. Oh well. Now it was time to focus on his plan of escape. His thoughts were interrupted when Gibbs came over with a plate of toast and fruit, the stitch sippy-cup, and the antibiotic pill.   
“Eat up” Gibbs said as he took his plate and coffee cup and sat down to eat his own breakfast.   
Once again Tony found that he wasn’t hungry but experience had shown that Gibbs wouldn’t care if he was hungry or not. He wanted so badly to throw the plate of food across the room but he wanted to get Gibbs off of his back. What was the best idea? If he wanted Gibbs to leave him alone he could behave but then would that be suspicious? If he were to throw a fit would it be suspicious or expected? From his experience changing one’s attitude suddenly typically roused suspicion than when one kept the way they were acting as expected. Well that answered his question. With his mind made up Tony picked up his plate and threw it across the kitchen.  
Gibbs stood up immediately and put Tony on his lap dragging his own plate over. “Open” he ordered. Tony looked up at Gibbs and gulped. Gibbs was mad and now probably wasn’t the time to push him so Tony opened his mouth.   
Once breakfast was done Gibbs picked Tony up and took him to the bathroom. After Tony’s bath Gibbs put Tony on his bed and put the cream and boot on then stood up and looked at Tony. “You are grounded to your room for the rest of the day” Gibbs said simply.   
Tony swallowed. This hadn’t been what he’d expected to happen. So far Gibbs had never hit him but from his experience being confined to a room always followed being beaten. Tony sat there looking up at Gibbs questioningly, waiting for him to start.   
Gibbs could see that Tony was worried about something so he reached down to ruffle his hair but Tony jerked away violently. Gibbs stopped; Tony hadn’t done that to him before. “What’s wrong” he asked coming down to Tony’s level.  
Tony looked at Gibbs warily “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do that. I promise it won’t happen again,” Tony said. From his experience apologizing quickly and then staying still always ended the beating faster.  
“Tony” Gibbs started. What was he supposed to say here? Tony was clearly expecting to be hit but why? Even if he was grounded as a child that still wouldn’t have led to a beating would it? Not unless… “When you were a kid did your father ever lock you in a room?” Gibbs asked.  
Tony nodded hesitantly. Better to tell the truth and quickly in these situations.  
“Did he ever hit you in those rooms?”  
Again Tony nodded.  
“What would happen Tony?” Gibbs asked calmly. He reached up and started to run his hand along Tony’s back. Tony flinched at first but then he started to calm down.  
“He.. he… would drag me to a room and then… then… he wo.. would hit me until he was tired or … or I wa … was unconscious and then he…h… he would leave me there for a few d.. da… days” Tony stuttered out. He was trying hard to keep in control but his emotions were running ramped right now and it was all he could do to stop from crying.  
Gibbs was disgusted at what happened but he couldn’t show that to Tony the kid was clearly scared. He hugged Tony close to him and continued to rub his back “I’m sorry that happened to you Tony. You need to know that I am never going to hurt you.” Gibbs said soothingly.  
Tony allowed Gibbs to calm him down. It was a new occurrence for him and it was nice. No one had ever tried to make him feel better before until Gibbs. Eventually he calmed down enough and pulled away.   
Gibbs looked at Tony for a few minutes making sure that he was really alright before squeezing the back of his neck and standing up. “Do you want the door open or closed?” he asked.  
Tony looked up at him confused. “I get a choice?” he asked.  
“Yeah”  
“You’re not locking the door?”  
“Never”  
“Can I change my mind later?”  
“Yeah”  
“Um.. cracked then.” Tony said hopefully.  
“Cracked it is” Gibbs said. He walked out of the room and cracked the door.  
Tony watched the door for a few minutes fully expecting Gibbs to change his mind and come back and shut and lock the door but that never happened. Now that he knew that Gibbs wasn’t going to lock the door or beat him he sat back on his bed and continued to plan his escape.  
Gibbs went down to the kitchen, baby monitor in hand. He cleaned up the mess and then make his own breakfast.  
Ducky walked in the front door about an hour later “Hello Jethro, how are things”  
“Oh the usual” Gibbs answered  
“What has young Anthony done now?” Ducky asked.  
“Threw his breakfast across the kitchen” Gibbs answered, “He’s grounded to his room for the rest of the day”   
“Alright is there anything else I need to know?” Ducky asked  
“No. I’ll have my cell on me but I won’t answer when I’m with the director but otherwise I’ll pickup. I’m bringing back pizza for supper, you’re welcome to stay.” Gibbs said. He grabbed his coat, keys and wallet and headed out the door.  
Tony had heard Gibbs talking to Ducky through the crack in the door. So Gibbs was heading out, that meant that it would only be Tony and Ducky and Tony was able to walk now. This would be perfect. He waited for Gibbs to leave and then for Ducky to find something to read. It didn’t take long for Ducky to become immersed in his book and soon Tony found that he could easily slip out of the front door and started walking to the nearest bus stop. Freedom at last.   
When Tony got to his apartment he grabbed the spare key that he hid under the floorboard under the matt and then he headed in and laid out on his cot. It was familiar but it didn’t quite feel right. He found himself missing his bed back at Gibbs’ but that was part of the problem. He was becoming too comfortable with Gibbs and that wasn’t good because eventually Gibbs would leave him, everyone always left him. No Gibbs would leave him sooner or later he was just making it sooner. With that thought Tony snuggled in and grabbed a book from the pile next to his bed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“Agent Gibbs” the Director greeted.  
“Director” Gibbs greeted “I need to talk to you about Tony” he said getting to the point.  
“Yes. Dr. Mallard has informed me of his current conditions as well as the change in his records regarding his age” the director said. He was one to cut right to the chase as well.  
“Right well, Tony is old enough to be an agent and Ducky approved the leave for medical excuse of absence. I still want him on my team.” Gibbs said matter-of-factly.  
“Yes Jethro I agree. I have no problem with Agent DiNozzo staying on your team so long as he follows all of Dr. Mallard’s instructions as well as this list of rules for someone his age” Morrow said. He handed Gibbs the list for him to look over.

Requirements for Agents Under the Legal Drinking Age  
1\. No going into bars alone  
2\. No alcohol even when undercover  
3\. No going undercover alone  
4\. No going out in the field alone  
5\. Must have a half hour break for every four hours of work  
6\. Must have an hour for lunch, and dinner if they are still here  
7\. Cannot work more than sixty hours a week without a supervisors sigh off  
8\. Cannot work more than seven days straight  
9\. Must get two physicals a year

Gibbs read over the list and found nothing that was disagreeable or added specifically for DiNozzo so he agreed.  
“Now the only change ’ll make to that list is that it will be held as requirement until he reaches the age of twenty-five not twenty-one.” Morrow said.  
“That’s fair” Gibbs agreed. He was going to hold Tony to these rules until he said otherwise and who knew how old the kid would be by then so Morrow wasn’t being unreasonable.   
“Is there anything else that you needed to discuss with me or is that all?” Morrow asked.  
“No” Gibbs said. He was turning to head out when Director Morrow called out again.  
“Oh by the way I have a friend who basically owns a suite at one of the Disney World hotels, the one with the monorail that runs through it and into the parks. If you would like they are willing to lend it to you for the two weeks that you are planning on going up there” Morrow offered.  
“That would be perfect” Gibbs said a bit stunned “Thank you”  
“No problem” Morrow said. He had gained a soft spot for the young agent and from what Ducky had said, or rather didn’t say, about the kid’s medical records it was clear that the boy could do with a nice vacation.  
Gibbs left the director’s office in a pleasant mood. That had been easier than he’d thought. Next he headed down to see Abby and invite her to Disney World with him, Tony and Ducky for two weeks.   
Gibbs walked into Abby’s lab and she turned down the volume immediately excited to see her friend. “Hey how have you been?” Abby asked. “I’ve been trying to call Tony but he hasn’t answered and I went by his place but he wasn’t there and I don’t know what to do” Abby rushed out.  
“Abbs, Abbs, calm down. Tony is fine, he’s staying with me and I turned his phone off. I came down here to talk to you about a vacation” Gibbs explained.  
“Are you sure Tony’s O.K.?” Abby asked. She was worried about her friend.  
“Yes. He’s fine. Ducky’s with him now.”  
“Oh, alright. Well then what’s this vacation?”  
“Ducky, Tony and I are heading down to Disney World for two weeks and I was hoping you’d like to come with us.”   
“Oh that would be so good. It would be great for Tony, I don’t think that he’s ever been there. You have to make sure that he watches the Disney movies though or else he’ll be confused and…”   
“Abbs.” Gibbs cut her off “We still have a bit of time. We’re not going for another two to three weeks and I’ve already started having Tony watch the different movies. We’ve been watching about one a night and I’m picking more up tonight before I go home”   
“Alight” Abby agreed. “I can’t wait. This’ll be so much fun. Oh we have to get autograph books and we have to go on all of the rides” Abby said excitedly.  
“Tell you what. Why don’t you make a list of all the things that you want to do and we will do our best to get to all of them. You can’t tell DiNozzo though this is a surprise for him. I’ll call you later this week to set up the details.” Gibbs said. He had a nervous feeling in his gut and he wanted to call Ducky and see how things were going but he needed to finish his conversation with Abby first.  
“Will do bossman” Abby said.   
Gibbs left Abby’s lab went to his car. Once he was in his car Gibbs dialed Ducky’s number. He waited impatiently until he heard the other phone pickup “How is he?” Gibbs asked immediately.  
“You have some weird sixth sense” Ducky greeted  
“What do you mean?”  
“I was just about to call you, it appears that young Anthony slipped out while I was reading. I’m so sorry Jethro I had the monitor next to me and I didn’t hear anything. I never mean…”  
“It’s fine Duck he’s a smart kid and he has had plenty of practice at sneaking around”Gibbs said hanging up on Duck and heading for Tony’s apartment. Somehow he just knew that’s where his wayward agent was.  
Gibbs entered the apartment using his own key and found Tony curled up on his cot in the midst of what appeared to be a terrible nightmare. “Hey Tony” Gibbs called as he walked over and started to try and wake the kid up. Eventually he roused Tony and got the boy to focus on where he was and who was with him.   
Now that Tony was lucid it was time to talk.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

“Alright kid what’s going on?” Gibbs asked. He had finally gotten Tony calm and they were now sitting at the two foldable lawn chairs that were in the room.  
“Nothing” Tony said sullenly. He didn’t understand this. Why was Gibbs here? Why had he come looking for him? No one came looking for Tony, no one. Tony had been sure that once he left Gibbs would ignore him and they would either go back to the way things had been before or tony would be looking for a new job. Tony hadn’t expected to wake up from a nightmare to find himself clutching to Gibbs like a scared child.   
“I want a real answer DiNozzo” Gibbs said. He noticed how Tony flinched at Gibbs’ tone and it didn’t go unnoticed. “Tony” Gibbs spoke softly “what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing” Tony said again. There was no way he was going to tell Gibbs.  
“I’m not buying it kid” Gibbs said. He leveled Tony with one of his patented Gibbs glares and just waited for Tony to break, it always worked.  
Tony squirmed under Gibbs’ constant glare and after a good ten minutes he folded. “Why do you care?” he asked.  
Gibbs was impressed. Tony had held out longer than he thought the kid would. The question on the other hand didn’t surprise him “I care because I care about you” Gibbs said simply as though it were obvious.  
“Yes but why?” Tony asked. Gibbs had yet to fully explain this to him and he was confused.  
Gibbs sighed. How was he supposed to explain this? “I care about you because I love you like a son, because I you are my son because you are my family” he answered.  
Tony looked at Gibbs he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. He was his father’s son and his father had basically tortured him. “But my father loved me like a son?” Tony asked. It was a question because his father had never said he loved him but Tony had always hoped.  
“No” Gibbs said firmly “Your father did not love you. Your father was a sadistic person who enjoyed torturing a young innocent boy who had done nothing wrong.”   
Tony looked at him “But my father loved me” Tony said sadly “he had to”.  
Tony sounded so young and hopeful that Gibbs just reacted and pulled the boy over to him. After getting Tony situated on his lap Gibbs held him close and started rubbing his back. “I’m so sorry Tony. You shouldn’t have had to live through any of what he did to you. Your father should have loved you but what he did was not love. I’m so sorry that happened to you but I won’t let it happen again” Gibbs said.   
“Promise?” Tony asked hopeful. Maybe Gibbs could protect him from his father.  
“I promise kid” Gibbs said. He had a nagging feeling that there was more to it than just a little kids hope. Was there something that Tony still wasn’t telling him? Well even if there was now wasn’t the time to deal with it.  
Gibbs held Tony until he’d finally calmed down. “Time to head home” Gibbs said as he started to stand with Tony in his arms.   
“I am home” Tony said.  
“No buddy, I mean home to your room where you will be grounded for the next week for running off.” Gibbs said.  
“Why are you doing this?” Tony asked.   
“I thought we already went over this” Gibbs answered “I’m doing this because I care about you”  
“Yeah you care about me now but what happens once you’re tired of me? I’ll just end up back here. Why don’t we just skip a few steps and you can leave me here?” Tony explained.  
Gibbs stopped and looked Tony in the eye “I am never going to get tired of you. I’m making you move in with me. I will never leave you and I will never kick you out.” Gibbs said. He could see in Tony’s eyes that the kid was still unsure “I give you my word” he said.   
After several minutes of Tony studying Gibbs looking for any kind of deception he eventually gave a small nod and then rested his head on Gibbs’ shoulder and allowed himself to be carried down to the car. If what Gibbs said was true, and his boss had never broken his word before, then Tony was safe. It would be nice to trust someone for once but then it wasn’t something that he’d ever done before. Was this a good idea?  
Gibbs got them both home quickly and Ducky was waiting there with pizza. Ducky had gone to get the pizza and pick up multiple Disney movies from the store, as well as some stitch plates and stitch sippy-cups and bottles as well as a stitch pacifier (Tony wasn’t showed that one) while he was out as well.   
They all sat in the living room eating dinner and watching The Little Mermaid. Once the movie was over Gibbs carried Tony up to his room and put him to bed. Ducky waited until he was sure Tony was asleep before bringing in the bottle and pacifier and handing them over “I’m going to head home now Jethro, goodnight”   
“Night Duck and thanks” Gibbs said as he placed the bottle into Tony’s mouth and started rocking slowly. It didn’t take long for the bottle to be finished and the pacifier to replace it. Gibbs sat there rocking Tony for little while longer before tucking him into bed and handing him his stitch toys and kissing his forehead.

The End ... For Now


End file.
